Devanagari
गिरिदर्यां विनिक्षिप्य नीतं नीतं महासुर: ।
शिलया पिदधे द्वारं चतु:पञ्चावशेषिता: ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
giri-daryāṁ vinikṣipya
nītaṁ nītaṁ mahāsuraḥ
śilayā pidadhe dvāraṁ
catuḥ-paṣcāvaśeṣitāḥ
Synonyms
giri
—
of a mountain
;
daryām
—
in a cave
;
vinikṣipya
—
throwing
;
nītam nītam
—
gradually bringing them
;
mahā
—
asuraḥ — the great demon
;
śilayā
—
with a stone
;
pidadhe
—
he blocked
;
dvāram
—
the entrance
;
catuḥ
—
paṣca — four or five
;
avaśeṣitāḥ
—
remained .
Translation
Gradually the great demon abducted more and more of the cowherd boys and cast them into a mountain cave, which he sealed shut with a boulder. Finally only four or five boys acting as sheep remained in the game.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Gradually the great demon abducted more and more of the cowherd boys and cast them into a mountain cave, which he sealed shut with a boulder. Finally only four or five boys acting as sheep remained in the game.
KB 10.37.29
One after another he took away almost all the boys and put them in the caves of the mountain and sealed the mouths of the caves with stones.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Finally only four or five boys playing sheep were left.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He threw them deep within a cave. Until only four or five, or fifty-four cowherds playing sheep remained. The sandhi is poetic license (it should be catuḥ-pāñcā avaśeṣitaḥ). Or it can be catuḥ-pāñcā vaśeṣitaḥ just as vataṁsa sometimes stands for avataṁsa (where the initial a is dropped). Or of the four or five that remained, he sealed them in the cave. Kṛṣṇa was unaware till that time of Vyomāsura since Kṛṣṇa had wandered off to take away the boys he had stolen.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
He threw them deep within a cave until only four or five, or fifty-four cowherds playing sheep remained. Or he put them in the cave gently. If they understood he was a demon, he would not be able to put them in the cave at all. He brought many in at the same time. He was capable because he was a powerful demon (mahāsuraḥ). He had powers of māyā. Four or five boys remained as sheep. The sandhi is poetic license. Or of the four or five that remained playing sheep, he sealed them in the cave. It would have been impossible to put all the unlimited cowherd boys quickly in the cave by himself.