Devanagari
पादसंवाहनं चक्रु: केचित्तस्य महात्मन: ।
अपरे हतपाप्मानो व्यजनै: समवीजयन् ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
pāda-saṁvāhanaṁ cakruḥ
kecit tasya mahātmanaḥ
apare hata-pāpmāno
vyajanaiḥ samavījayan
Synonyms
pāda
—
saṁvāhanam — the massaging of the feet
;
cakruḥ
—
did
;
kecit
—
some of them
;
tasya
—
of Him
;
mahā
—
ātmanaḥ — great souls
;
apare
—
others
;
hata
—
pāpmānaḥ — who were free from all sins
;
vyajanaiḥ
—
with fans
;
samavījayan
—
perfectly fanned Him .
Translation
Some of the cowherd boys, who were all great souls, would then massage His lotus feet, and others, qualified by being free of all sin, would expertly fan the Supreme Lord.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Some of the cowherd boys, who were all great souls, would then massage His lotus feet, and others, qualified by being free of all sin, would expertly fan the Supreme Lord.
KB 10.15.17
… some of the boys would come and massage His legs, and some would fan His body with a fan made from leaves.
Purport
The word
samavījayan
indicates that the cowherd boys fanned the Lord very carefully and expertly, creating gentle and cooling breezes.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Kecit is in the plural to indicate that they would take turns massaging his feet, or that in each of the many beds where he had expanded his form three or four boys would massage his feet.
Mahātmanaḥ should be mahātmānaḥ, fortunate souls. Some fortunate souls massaged his feet. Or, some massaged the feet of Kṛṣṇa, who had great, astonishing qualities (mahātmanaḥ). The boys were freed of all problems which could be created by interruption to their service (hata-pāpmānaḥ). They were free of all sins eternally. To say they had become purified of sins would be an insult. Ayam ātmā ’pahata-pāpmanā: the ātmā in the spiritual world is free of all sin. (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.1.5) This should be understood in all the previous and following verses. They fanned him using slow, graceful gestures (sam--avījayan).
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Since there were many boys they took turns massaging his feet. Or on the many beds, three or four would be on one bed massaging one of the expansions. Or, by his special power, though he is one, it was possible that many could massage him. Mahātmanaḥ should be mahātmānaḥ in refers to the boys. They were greatly fortunate. Or mahātmanaḥ can modify tasya (Kṛṣṇa’s) with the meaning of unlimited (great soul). One Kṛṣṇa, who had special power, could be in resting in many beds by spreading himself out. These boys had their sins destroyed by the Lord by glorifying him even in this world. We however are sinful, without the good fortune of serving him like this. They fanned him thoroughly (sam-bījayan), with slow graceful movements.