Devanagari
तत्रोपाहूय गोपालान् कृष्ण: प्राह विहारवित् ।
हे गोपा विहरिष्यामो द्वन्द्वीभूय यथायथम् ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
tatropāhūya gopālān
kṛṣṇaḥ prāha vihāra-vit
he gopā vihariṣyāmo
dvandvī-bhūya yathā-yatham
Synonyms
tatra
—
thereupon
;
upāhūya
—
calling
;
gopālān
—
the cowherd boys
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
prāha
—
spoke
;
vihāra
—
vit — the knower of all sports and games
;
he gopāḥ
—
O cowherd boys
;
vihariṣyāmaḥ
—
let us play
;
dvandvī
—
bhūya — dividing into two groups
;
yathā
—
yatham — suitably .
Translation
Kṛṣṇa, who knows all sports and games, then called together the cowherd boys and spoke as follows: “Hey cowherd boys! Let’s play now! We’ll divide ourselves into two even teams.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kṛṣṇa, who knows all sports and games, then called together the cowherd boys and spoke as follows: "Hey cowherd boys! Let's play now! We'll divide ourselves into two even teams."
KB 10.18.19
Kṛṣṇa then called all His friends and ordered them: “Now we shall play in pairs. We shall challenge one another in pairs.” With this proposal, all the boys assembled together.
Purport
The word
yathā-yatham
means that Kṛṣṇa naturally wanted the two teams to be evenly matched so that there would be a good game. In addition to the pleasure of sporting, the purpose of the game was to kill the demon Pralamba.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He then spoke specifically (pra aha) to attract Pralamba, in order to kill him. Kṛṣṇa is called vihara-vit because he was knowledgeable of everything about the game.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
He then spoke specifically (pra aha) to attract Pralamba, in order to kill him. Kṛṣṇa is called vihara-vit because he was knowledgeable of everything about the game: by this game he would make Balarāma happy and have him get on Pralamba’s shoulders. Or he know all aspects of this particular game.