utthÄpanair unnayanaiÅ›
cÄlanaiḥ sthÄpanair api
parasparaá¹ jigīṣantÄv
apacakratur Ätmanaḥ

 utthÄpanaiḥ - with lifting up; unnayanaiḥ - carrying; cÄlanaiḥ - pushing away; sthÄpanaiḥ - holding stationary; api - also; parasparam - each other; jigīṣantau - wanting victory; apacakratuḥ - they harmed; Ätmanaḥ - (even) themselves.


Text

Forcefully lifting and carrying each other, pushing each other away and holding each other down, the fighters hurt even their own bodies in their great eagerness for victory.

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« explains that although Kṛṣṇa and BalarÄma did not, of course, harm Themselves, it appeared that way to CÄṇūra, Muṣṭika and others of mundane vision. In other words, the Lords were fully absorbed in the pastime of being wrestlers.