tavat -- by then; vraja-okasah -- the inhabitants of Vraja; tatra -- there; nanda-gopa-adayah -- headed by Nanda, the king of the cowherds; agratah -- before; pura -- of the city; upavanam -- a garden; asadya -- coming upon; pratikshantah -- waiting; avatasthire -- they stayed there.

Nanda Maharaja and the other residents of Vrindavana, having reached Mathura ahead of the chariot, had stopped at a garden on the outskirts of the city to wait for Krishna and Balarama.