• mallāḥ — the wrestlers
  Plural of malla. The professional fighters. Gauḍīya commentary (Viśvanātha): the mallas are the asuric guṇa concentrated into bodily form — tamasic strength, devoid of dharma. Their death by Bhagavān is the day's central scene.
• dṛptāḥ — proud
  Past participle of √dṛp — to be arrogant. Dṛpta is the technical word for asuric pride. Gauḍīya note: dṛpta is the opposite of dīna; the bhakta is dīna (humble), the asura is dṛpta. The verse names the wrestlers' core vice.
• su-alaṅkṛtāḥ — well ornamented
  Contiguous: su (well) + alaṅkṛta (ornamented). The mallas are decked out. Gauḍīya pun: ornaments do not save the asura; the only ornament that saves is the holy name (Hari-nāma, which Caitanya called the supreme alaṅkāra).
• tāla — rhythmic meter
  From √tal. The drumbeat in tāla. Bhāgavata's musical vocabulary. Gauḍīya: even the drumming serves the līlā — every beat brings Kaṁsa closer to his end.
• sa-upādhyāyāḥ — together with their instructors
  Contiguous: sa (with) + upādhyāya (teacher). The wrestlers' coaches also sit. Gauḍīya commentary: the asuric tradition has its own guru-paramparā — but lineage by itself does not save; only the lineage of bhakti does (sampradāya-vihīna mantra niṣphalā).

Bull-necked men strutting into a ring to the cheers of trained drummers, fattened on royal patronage, lined up to fight a boy. The Bhāgavata lists them carefully because the asuric body always wants to be catalogued — and because, by evening, the catalogue will be a death-list.