Devanagari
गोपान् गोकुलरक्षायां निरूप्य मथुरां गत: ।
नन्द: कंसस्य वार्षिक्यं करं दातुं कुरूद्वह ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
gopān gokula-rakṣāyāṁ
nirūpya mathurāṁ gataḥ
nandaḥ kaṁsasya vārṣikyaṁ
karaṁ dātuṁ kurūdvaha
Synonyms
gopān
—
the cowherd men
;
gokula
—
rakṣāyām — in giving protection to the state of Gokula
;
nirūpya
—
after appointing
;
mathurām
—
to Mathurā
;
gataḥ
—
went
;
nandaḥ
—
Nanda Mahārāja
;
kaṁsasya
—
of Kaṁsa
;
vārṣikyam
—
yearly taxes
;
karam
—
the share of profit
;
dātum
—
to pay
;
kuru
—
udvaha — O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best protector of the Kuru dynasty .
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thereafter, my dear King Parīkṣit, O best protector of the Kuru dynasty, Nanda Mahārāja appointed the local cowherd men to protect Gokula and then went to Mathurā to pay the yearly taxes to King Kaṁsa.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thereafter, my dear King Parīkṣit, O best protector of the Kuru dynasty, Nanda Mahārāja appointed the local cowherd men to protect Gokula and then went to Mathurā to pay the yearly taxes to King Kaṁsa.
KB 10.5.19
After the birth ceremony, Nanda Mahārāja decided to go to Mathurā to pay the annual tax to the government of Kaṁsa. Before leaving, he called for the able cowherd men of the village and asked them to take care of Vṛndāvana in his absence.
Purport
Because the killing of babies was going on and had already become known, Nanda Mahārāja was very much afraid for his newborn child. Thus he appointed the local cowherd men to protect his home and child. He wanted to go immediately to Mathurā to pay the taxes due and also to offer some presentation for the sake of his newborn son. For the protection of the child, he had worshiped various demigods and forefathers and given charity to everyone’s satisfaction. Similarly, Nanda Mahārāja wanted not only to pay Kaṁsa the yearly taxes but also to offer some presentation so that Kaṁsa too would be satisfied. His only concern was how to protect his transcendental child, Kṛṣṇa.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Many days after the birth of his son, thinking of his son as a great treasure, Nanda began to think, " In all good fortune there are many impediments." First satisfying the devas, pitrs and planets with worship, without delay he then departed for Mathura with gifts of gold coins, jewels and cloth to give to the evil king Kamsa as yearly tax to please him.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Previously because of lack of a son Nanda had no possessiveness of wealth and had no fear of Kaṁsa. With the birth of a precious son he became anxious to protect him, worrying greatly. He therefore personally went quickly to Mathurā city to ally insurmountable fears. He engaged cowherds in protecting Vraja. He had to give yearly taxes at the beginning of the year starting in Śrāvana month. Śukadeva addresses Parīkṣit as Kurūdvaha, leader of the Kurus, to show that Yudhiṣṭhira was also anxious to protect the remaining son in his dynasty. (Similarly Nanda wanted to protect Vraja.)