svamātuḥ svinna-gātrāyā visrasta-kabara-srajaḥ |
dṛṣṭvā pariśramaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ kṛpayāsīt svabandhane ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.9.18)
“Seeing his own mother’s sweating body, the garland from her braid fallen loose, and her exertion, Kṛṣṇa, by his grace, became bound by his own [i.e., by his own mother; alt., by his own will].”
aṅga-śyāmalima-cchaṭābhir abhito mandīkṛtendīvaraṁ
jāḍyaṁ jāguḍa-rociṣāṁ vidadhataṁ paṭṭāmbarasya śriyā |
vṛndāraṇya-vilāsinaṁ hṛdi lasad-dāmābhir āmodaraṁ
rādhā-skandha-niveśitojjvala-bhujaṁ dhyāyema dāmodaram ||
(Stava-mālā)
“Let us meditate on Dāmodara—by the splendor of the blackness of whose limbs blue lotuses are belittled, by the radiance of whose silken garments saffron is rendered stunned, who sports in the forest of Vṛndā, who is fragrant with shining garlands on his breast, and whose lustrous arm rests on Rādhā’s shoulder.”
saṅketāvasare cyute praṇayataḥ saṁsajjayā rādhayā
prārabhya bhrū-kuṭiṁ hiraṇya-raśanā-dāmnā nibaddhodaram |
kārttikyāṁ jananī-kṛtotsava-vara-prastāvanā-pūrvakaṁ
cāṭūni prathayan tam ātta-pulakaṁ dhyāyema dāmodaram ||
(Bhaviṣya Purāṇa: Uttara-khaṇḍa; cited in the Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 110)
“When he missed the time of a tryst [planned for the full moon night in the month of Kārttika, and arrived late], fully prepared Rādhā, out of praṇaya [lsy., intimate love], first furrowed her brows and then bound him around the belly with the band of her golden girdle. When he coaxed her, explaining he had been at the commencement of the grand festival conducted by his mother for Kārttika, she released him. Let us meditate on Dāmodara, seized by horripilation [upon being bound and released by his beloved Rādhā].”
īśāna-deva-caraṇābharaṇena nīvī-
dāmodara-sthira-yaśaḥ-stavakodbhavena |
līlāśukena racitaṁ tava kṛṣṇa-deva
karṇāmṛtaṁ vahatu kalpa-śatāntare’pi ||
(Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 110)
“O Kṛṣṇadeva, may [this] nectar for your ears [i.e., this text Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta] composed by Līlāśuka [i.e., Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura], whose ornament is the feet of Īśānadeva [i.e., you who are the playful vital air of Rādhā], and whose origin is the bouquet of the everlasting glory of Nīvi-dāmodara [i.e., you who are bound around the belly with the cord of Rādhā’s waistband], flow for hundreds kalpas.”
… kṛṣṇo vai dāma-bandhanāt |
goṣṭhe dāmodara iti gopībhiḥ parigīyate ||
(Hari-vaṁśa Purāṇa; cited in Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.10.17)
“Because of being bound by a rope [around the belly], Kṛṣṇa is sung of by the gopīs in Vraja as ‘Dāmodara’ [lit. “rope-belly”].”
