Devanagari
ततो वत्सानदृष्ट्वैत्य पुलिनेऽपि च वत्सपान् ।
उभावपि वने कृष्णो विचिकाय समन्तत: ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
tato vatsān adṛṣṭvaitya
puline ’pi ca vatsapān
ubhāv api vane kṛṣṇo
vicikāya samantataḥ
Synonyms
tataḥ
—
thereafter
;
vatsān
—
the calves
;
adṛṣṭvā
—
not seeing there within the forest
;
etya
—
after
;
puline api
—
to the bank of the Yamunā
;
ca
—
also
;
vatsapān
—
could not see the cowherd boys
;
ubhau api
—
both of them (the calves and the cowherd boys)
;
vane
—
within the forest
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
vicikāya
—
searched all over
;
samantataḥ
—
here and there .
Translation
Thereafter, when Kṛṣṇa was unable to find the calves, He returned to the bank of the river, but there He was also unable to see the cowherd boys. Thus He began to search for both the calves and the boys, as if He could not understand what had happened.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Thereafter, when Kṛṣṇa was unable to find the calves, He returned to the bank of the river, but there He was also unable to see the cowherd boys. Thus He began to search for both the calves and the boys, as if He could not understand what had happened.
KB 10.13.16
Lord Kṛṣṇa, therefore, in spite of searching for the calves, could not find them, and He even lost His boyfriends on the bank of the Yamunā, where they had been taking their lunch.
Purport
Kṛṣṇa could immediately understand that Brahmā had taken away both the calves and the boys, but as an innocent child He searched here and there so that Brahmā could not understand Kṛṣṇa’s
māyā.
This was all a dramatic performance. A player knows everything, but still he plays on the stage in such a way that others do not understand him.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In the statement "not seeing the calves, Krsna returned," one should understand that this was an appearance of not seeing them, for he knew where they were. He did this to make Brahma believe that he could bewilder anyone. Then he began looking for the boys and calves. Acting distressed like an actor, he put on the appearance of looking from them, for a later verse says "Brahma saw Krsna, the actor (natyam) in the form of a cowherd boy".10.13.61
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
After that (tataḥ) not seeing the calves he saw that the boys and even their meal packets were not on the river bank. “Grieved by my delay in returning, perhaps they have gone elsewhere with their food to look for me. The boys have gone somewhere and the calves are somewhere else.” Thus he searched for both in the forest. Though Kṛṣṇa is full of all knowledge, on not seeing the boys and calves, out overpowering affection, he lost his discriminating power. Thus he began searching.