Devanagari
उलूखलाङ्घ्रेरुपरि व्यवस्थितं
मर्काय कामं ददतं शिचि स्थितम् ।
हैयङ्गवं चौर्यविशङ्कितेक्षणं
निरीक्ष्य पश्चात् सुतमागमच्छनै: ॥ ८ ॥
Verse text
ulūkhalāṅghrer upari vyavasthitaṁ
markāya kāmaṁ dadataṁ śici sthitam
haiyaṅgavaṁ caurya-viśaṅkitekṣaṇaṁ
nirīkṣya paścāt sutam āgamac chanaiḥ
Synonyms
ulūkhala
—
aṅghreḥ — of the mortar in which spices were ground and which was being kept upside down
;
upari
—
on top
;
vyavasthitam
—
Kṛṣṇa was sitting
;
markāya
—
unto a monkey
;
kāmam
—
according to His satisfaction
;
dadatam
—
delivering shares
;
śici sthitam
—
situated in the butter pot hanging on the swing
;
haiyaṅgavam
—
butter and other milk preparations
;
caurya
—
viśaṅkita — because of stealing, were anxiously looking hither and thither
;
īkṣaṇam
—
whose eyes
;
nirīkṣya
—
by seeing these activities
;
paścāt
—
from behind
;
sutam
—
her son
;
āgamat
—
she reached
;
śanaiḥ
—
very slowly, cautiously .
Translation
Kṛṣṇa, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yaśodā, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kṛṣṇa, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yaśodā, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind.
KB 10.9.8
After she sought all over, she found her son sitting on a big wooden grinding mortar, which was kept upside down. He was taking butter from a pot which was hanging from the ceiling on a swing, and He was feeding it to the monkeys. She saw Kṛṣṇa looking this way and that way in fear of her because He was conscious of His naughty behavior. After seeing her son so engaged, she very silently approached Him from behind.
Purport
Mother Yaśodā was able to trace Kṛṣṇa by following His butter-smeared footprints. She saw that Kṛṣṇa was stealing butter, and thus she smiled. Meanwhile, the crows also entered the room and came out in fear. Thus mother Yaśodā found Kṛṣṇa stealing butter and very anxiously looking here and there.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
From the footprints smeared with yogurt, the sound of his jingling bells, and the noises in the other room, Yasoda could guess that Krsna was in the room eating butter. Surmising that, her face broke into a smile. A few second later, she decided to go into the room. But by that time Krsna had left by the back door and gone into the yard. He sat with crossed legs on top of an overturned mortar for fear of crows and other animals.
The verse describes from this point. Having stolen the pot hanging from the ceiling, he had brought it there. He was afraid of being beaten by his mother for having stolen the butter, and therefore he was looking around in fear (caurya visankiteksanam niriksya) looking for a path of escape. Seeing him from inside the room by craning her neck, she then very softly approached from the back so that he could not see here, without making noise from her footsteps, in order to catch him in her hands.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
From fear of crows and other animals he sat in svāstika asana on an overturned mortar. After going into the storeroom and eating some butter he took the pot which had been hanging from a rope (indicating his cleverness) and went behind the house by the back door to a solitary spot to fool his mother. His mother approached from behind so he would not see her.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
He was sitting carefully on top of overturned mortar and was feeding the monkeys. The singular (markāya) is used to represent the class of monkeys. She approached from behind so he could not see her.