Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.18.14
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
bilvaiḥ
—
with bilva fruits
Bilva is sacred to Śiva; here it is a plaything for the boys. Gauḍīya commentators note that in Vraja the items used in vidhi-pūjā elsewhere are recategorized as toys — bhakti reframes everything.
-
kumbhaiḥ
—
with kumbha fruits
Kumbha — a particular round forest-fruit. Used as a ball. The cosmos that contains every kumbha is currently fielding one.
-
āmalaka-muṣṭibhiḥ
—
with palmfuls of āmalaka fruits
Āmalaka (myrobalan) + muṣṭi (fist, handful). A small hard fruit, perfect for tossing. Āmalaka is also the fruit Vaiṣṇavas later use for vrata — the sacrament hidden inside the game.
-
netra-bandha
—
blindfold (game)
Netra (eye) + bandha (binding). Blindman's-buff. Bhagavān, sarva-darśana, lets His netra be bandha. The chapter is building toward verse 18's sarva-darśana — Pralamba's failure to hide will be staged against this consensual blinding.
-
mṛga-khaga-īhayā
—
imitating animals and birds
Mṛga (animal) + khaga (bird) + īhā (action, mimicry). The boys take on Vraja's fauna as roles. Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra notes that mimicry (anukaraṇa) is one of the play-modes proper to sakhya.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī explains that the word ādyaiḥ, “by other such sports,” indicates such games as chasing one another and building bridges. Another pastime would occur at noon, while Lord Kṛṣṇa was taking rest. Nearby, the young cowherd girls would be passing by, singing, and Kṛṣṇa’s boyfriends would pretend to inquire from them about the price of milk. Then the boys would steal yogurt and other items from them and run away. Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Their friends would also play games in which they would cross the river in boats. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura further explains that the boys would play with fruits by throwing a few in the air and then throwing others to try to hit them. The word netra-bandha indicates a game in which one boy would approach a blindfolded boy from behind and place his palms over the blindfolded boy’s eyes. Then, simply by the feel of his palms, the blindfolded boy would have to guess who the other boy was. In all such games the boys put up stakes for the winner, such as flutes or walking sticks. Sometimes the boys would imitate the various fighting methods of the forest animals, and at other times they would chirp like birds.
They threw bilva fruits, kumbha fruits and amalaki at each other. They trying to touch each other and avoiding being touched. They approached each other from behind unnoticed, trying to put their hands over the other boys’ eyes. If they succeeded in doing so they won. The prize was a flute or stick. They imitated various animals and the cries of various birds and beasts.
Other pastimes are summarized in three verses. They wandered in the forest (verse 16), performing these various activities.
Ādyaiḥ represents other play such as building dams in the rivers, hiding from each other, throwing dice and having cock fight. Then at noon time, when it was time for the Lord to rest, they would block the young girls who had come close by on the pretext of taking milk products to sell and steal yogurt from them. They would also cross the Yamunā in boats.
Even with palmfuls of āmalaka fruit and the games of blindfold-tag, the Lord lets His omniscience be blindfolded — the One who sees all consents to be unable to see while a friend laughs nearby. Bhagavān plays at not-knowing.
My note
Source: vedabase.io