Devanagari
पलायमानौ तौ दृष्ट्वा मागध: प्रहसन्बली ।
अन्वधावद् रथानीकैरीशयोरप्रमाणवित् ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
palāyamānau tau dṛṣṭvā
māgadhaḥ prahasan balī
anvadhāvad rathānīkair
īśayor apramāṇa-vit
Synonyms
palāyamānau
—
who were fleeing
;
tau
—
Those two
;
dṛṣṭvā
—
seeing
;
māgadhaḥ
—
Jarāsandha
;
prahasan
—
laughing loudly
;
balī
—
powerful
;
anvadhāvat
—
he ran after
;
ratha
—
with charioteers
;
anīkaiḥ
—
and soldiers
;
īśayoḥ
—
of the Lords
;
apramāṇa
—
vit — unaware of the scope .
Translation
When he saw Them fleeing, powerful Jarāsandha laughed loudly and then pursued Them with charioteers and foot soldiers. He could not understand the exalted position of the two Lords.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When he saw Them fleeing, powerful Jarāsandha laughed loudly and then pursued Them with charioteers and foot soldiers. He could not understand the exalted position of the two Lords.
KB 10.52.9
This time, Jarāsandha thought that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were very much afraid of his military strength and were fleeing the battlefield. He followed Them with all his chariots, horses and infantry. He thought Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to be ordinary human beings, and he was trying to measure the activities of the Lord. Due to this pastime Kṛṣṇa is known as Raṇacora, which means “one who has left the battlefield.” In India, especially in Gujarat, there are many temples of Kṛṣṇa known as temples of Raṇacorajī. Ordinarily, if a king leaves the battlefield without fighting he is called a coward, but when Kṛṣṇa enacts this pastime, leaving the battlefield without fighting, He is worshiped by the devotees. A demon always tries to measure the opulence of Kṛṣṇa, whereas a devotee never tries to measure His strength and opulence but always surrenders unto Him and worships Him. By following in the footsteps of pure devotees, we can know that Kṛṣṇa, the Raṇacorajī, left the battlefield not because He was afraid but because He had some other purpose. The purpose, as it will be revealed, was to attend to a confidential letter sent by Rukmiṇī, His future first wife. Kṛṣṇa’s leaving the battlefield is a display of one of His six opulences. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme powerful, the supreme wealthy, the supreme famous, the supreme wise and the supreme beautiful; similarly, He is the supreme renouncer. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam clearly states that He left the battlefield in spite of having ample military strength. Even without His militia, He alone would have been sufficient to defeat the army of Jarāsandha, as He had done seventeen times before. Therefore, His leaving the battlefield is an example of His supermost opulence, renunciation.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Unaware of their greatness ( a pramana vit), he pursued them.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He could not understand the power of the Lords (apramāṇa-vit), that they could not be defeated by human strength. He ran after them but could not take the wealth. It is understood that Kṛṣṇa brought the wealth to Dvārakā. Hari-vaṁśa says:
nivedayām āsa tato narādhipe tad ugrasene prati-pūrṇa-mānasaḥ /
janārdano dvāravatīṁ ca tāṁ purīm aśobhayat tena dhanena bhūriṇā //
He brought the wealth and offered it to Ugrasena. He made Dvārakā beautiful with the abundant treasures.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Jarāsandha was strong (bale) because he had twenty-three akṣauhiṇīs of troops, or because he had personal strength. He laughed loudly, or mocked them while saying, “What astonishing bravery of these warriors!” He pursued them with his chariot and armies or with armies who rode chariots, since they could not capture the two brothers by other means. He ran after them, but could not catch them. Thus they took the wealth to Dvārakā.
Hari-vaṁśa says:
nivedayām āsa tato narādhipe tad ugrasene prati-pūrṇa-mānasaḥ /
janārdano dvāravatīṁ ca tāṁ purīm aśobhayat tena dhanena bhūriṇā //
He brought the wealth and offered it to Ugrasena. He made Dvārakā beautiful with the abundant treasures.