KRSNA AND THE COWHERD BOYS LEAVE FOR THE FOREST
One day Krsna decided to take His breakfast as a picnic in the forest. Having risen early in the morning, He blew His bugle made of horn and woke all the cowherd boys and calves with its beautiful sound. Then Krsna and the boys, keeping their respective herds of calves before them, proceeded from Vrajabhumi to the forest.
At that time, hundreds and thousands of cowherd boys came out of their respective homes in Vrajabhumi and joined Krsna, keeping before them their hundreds and thousands of herds of calves. The boys were very beautiful, and they were equipped with lunch bags, bugles, flutes, and sticks for controlling the calves.
Along with the cowherd boys and their own herds of calves, Krsna came out with an unlimited number of His calves. Then the boys began to sport in the forest in a greatly playful spirit. Although they had already been decorated by their mothers with ornaments of kaca, guñja, pearls, and gold, when they went into the forest they further decorated themselves with fruits, green leaves, bunches of flowers, peacock feathers, and soft minerals.
PAINTING BY MURALIDHARA DASA (1973)