SB 8.15.17 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यत्र नित्यवयोरूपा: श्यामा विरजवासस: । भ्राजन्ते रूपवन्नार्यो ह्यर्चिर्भिरिव वह्नय: ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

yatra nitya-vayo-rūpāḥ śyāmā viraja-vāsasaḥ bhrājante rūpavan-nāryo hy arcirbhir iva vahnayaḥ

Synonyms

yatra — in that city ; nitya — vayaḥ — rūpāḥ — who were ever beautiful and young ; śyāmāḥ — possessing the quality of śyāmā ; viraja — vāsasaḥ — always dressed with clean garments ; bhrājante — glitter ; rūpa — vat — well decorated ; nāryaḥ — women ; hi — certainly ; arcirbhiḥ — with many flames ; iva — like ; vahnayaḥ — fires .

Translation

Everlastingly beautiful and youthful women, who were dressed with clean garments, glittered in the city like fires with flames. They all possessed the quality of śyāmā.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Everlastingly beautiful and youthful women known as śyāma, who were dressed with clean garments, shone in the city like fires with flames. A śyāmā woman is a woman who has warm limbs during the cold and cool limbs during the hot season, and whose breasts are very firm.

Purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives a hint of the quality of the śyāmā woman. śīta-kāle bhaved uṣṇā uṣma-kāle suśītalāḥ stanau sukaṭhinau yāsāṁ tāḥ śyāmāḥ parikīrtitāḥ A woman whose body is very warm during the winter and cool during the summer and who generally has very firm breasts is called śyāmā.