tatropÄhÅ«ya gopÄlÄn
kṛṣṇaḥ prÄha vihÄra-vit
he gopÄ vihariá¹£yÄmo
dvandvÄ«-bhÅ«ya yathÄ-yatham
tatra - thereupon; upÄhÅ«ya - calling; gopÄlÄn - the cowherd boys; kṛṣṇaḥ - Lord Kṛṣṇa; prÄha - spoke; vihÄra-vit - the knower of all sports and games; he gopÄḥ - 0 cowherd boys; vihariá¹£yÄmaḥ - let us play, dvandvÄ« -bhÅ«ya - dividing into two groups; yathÄ-yatham - suitably.
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.â€
The word yathÄ-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.
