asamañjasaḥ - the son of Sagara Mahārāja; ātmānam - personally; darśayan - exhibiting; asamañjasam - very disturbing; jāti-smaraḥ - able to remember his past life; purā - formerly; saṅgāt - from bad association; yogī - although he was a great mystic yogī; yogāt - from the path of executing mystic yoga; vicālitaḥ - fell down; ācaran - behaving; garhitam - very badly; loke - in the society; jñātīnām - of his relatives; karma - activities; vipriyam - not very favorable; sarayvām - in the River Sarayū; krīḍataḥ - while engaged in sports; bālān - all the boys; prāsyat - would throw; udvejayan - giving trouble; janam - to people in general.

Formerly, in his previous birth, Asamañjasa had been a great mystic yogī, but by bad association he had fallen from his exalted position. Now, in this life, he was born in a royal family and was a jāti-smara; that is, he had the special advantage of being able to remember his past birth. Nonetheless, he wanted to display himself as a miscreant, and therefore he would do things that were abominable in the eyes of the public and unfavorable to his relatives. He would disturb the boys sporting in the river Sarayū by throwing them into the depths of the water.