Text 3
ulūkhalaṁ vikarṣantaṁ
dāmnā baddhaṁ ca bālakam
kasyedaṁ kuta āścaryam
utpāta iti kātarāḥ
ulūkhalam — the wooden mortar; vikarṣantam — dragging; dāmnā — with the rope; baddham ca — and bound by the belly; bālakam — Kṛṣṇa; kasya — of whom; idam — this; kutaḥ — wherefrom; āścaryam — these wonderful happenings; utpātaḥ — disturbance; iti — thus; kātarāḥ — they were very much agitated.
Kṛṣṇa was bound by the rope to the ulūkhala, the mortar, which He was dragging. But how could He have pulled down the trees? Who had actually done it? Where was the source for this incident? Considering all these astounding things, the cowherd men were doubtful and bewildered.
The cowherd men were very much agitated because the child Kṛṣṇa, after all, had been standing between the two trees, and if by chance the trees had fallen upon Him, He would have been smashed. But He was standing as He was, and still the things had happened, so who had done all this? How could these events have happened in such a wonderful way? These considerations were some of the reasons they were agitated and bewildered. They thought, however, that by chance Kṛṣṇa had been saved by God so that nothing had happened to Him.