Text 31
sametya gāvo ’dho vatsān
vatsavatyo ’py apāyayan
gilantya iva cāṅgāni
lihantyaḥ svaudhasaṁ payaḥ
sametya — assembling; gāvaḥ — all the cows; adhaḥ — down at the foot of Govardhana Hill; vatsān — all their calves; vatsa-vatyaḥ — as if new calves had been born from them; api — even though new calves were present; apāyayan — fed them; gilantyaḥ — swallowing them; iva — as if; ca — also; aṅgāni — their bodies; lihantyaḥ — licking as they do when newborn calves are present; sva-odhasam payaḥ — their own milk flowing from the milk bags.
The cows had given birth to new calves, but while coming down from Govardhana Hill, the cows, because of increased affection for the older calves, allowed the older calves to drink milk from their milk bags and then began licking the calves’ bodies in anxiety, as if wanting to swallow them.