Devanagari
एकदा क्रीडमानास्ते रामाद्या गोपदारका: ।
कृष्णो मृदं भक्षितवानिति मात्रे न्यवेदयन् ॥ ३२ ॥
Verse text
ekadā krīḍamānās te
rāmādyā gopa-dārakāḥ
kṛṣṇo mṛdaṁ bhakṣitavān
iti mātre nyavedayan
Synonyms
ekadā
—
once upon a time
;
krīḍamānāḥ
—
now Kṛṣṇa, being still more grown up, was playing with other children of the same age
;
te
—
they
;
rāma
—
ādyāḥ — Balarāma and others
;
gopa
—
dārakāḥ — other boys born in the same neighborhood of the cowherd men
;
kṛṣṇaḥ mṛdam bhakṣitavān
—
O Mother, Kṛṣṇa has eaten earth (a complaint was lodged)
;
iti
—
thus
;
mātre
—
unto mother Yaśodā
;
nyavedayan
—
they submitted .
Translation
One day while Kṛṣṇa was playing with His small playmates, including Balarāma and other sons of the gopas, all His friends came together and lodged a complaint to mother Yaśodā. “Mother,” they submitted, “Kṛṣṇa has eaten earth.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One day while Kṛṣṇa was playing with His small playmates, including Balarāma and other sons of the gopas, all His friends came together and lodged a complaint to mother Yaśodā. "Mother," they submitted, "Kṛṣṇa has eaten earth."
KB 10.8.32
Another day, when Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were playing with Their friends, all the boys joined Balarāma and complained to Mother Yaśodā that Kṛṣṇa had eaten clay.
Purport
Here is another of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental activities invented to please the
gopīs.
First a complaint was lodged with mother Yaśodā about Kṛṣṇa’s stealing, but mother Yaśodā did not chastise Him. Now, in an attempt to awaken mother Yaśodā’s anger so that she would chastise Kṛṣṇa, another complaint was invented — that Kṛṣṇa had eaten earth.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
A taste of maternal affection ( vatsalya rasa) by the gopis finding fault in Krsna has been completed. A taste of vismaya rasa is presented by his friends’ criticisms. Krsna was not scolded for stealing yogurt, but was scolded for eating dirt. Both were incited by love.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Remembering a previous pastime similar to a previous astonishing pastime (when Kṛṣṇa yawned and Yaśodā saw the universe in his mouth), Śukadeva begins speaking. The elder friends, such as Balarāma (te rāmādyāḥ), spoke to Yaśodā. The phrase gopa indicates that these boys were ordered by Yaśodā to protect Kṛṣṇa. They carried out the orders like wooden puppets (dāruka --puppet, which is similar to dārakāḥ—young boys). Or dārakāḥ can mean those who give joy (kāḥ) to the wife of Nanda (dāra), by informing her that Kṛṣṇa had eaten dirt. He took some soft earth from the ground and ate it though the boys had tried to stop him. Not able to tolerate his eating dirt, intently (ni), so that he would not do this again, they informed Yaśodā politely (avedayan).
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Wanting the bliss of being scolded by his devotee in the sequence of infant pastimes, the eating dirt pastimes is related. The friends or well wishers, such as Balarāma (te rāmādyāḥ), spoke to Yaśodā.
The phrase gopa indicates that these boys were ordered by Yaśodā to protect Kṛṣṇa. Another version has bālakāḥ. This indicates they had natural affection for Kṛṣṇa. He pretended to eat dirt. Balarāma and others thought he actually ate dirt. Or secretly he ate dirt. If he did not have the symptoms of eating it, he would not be scolded.