Shloka 1
Marutta’s Sacrifice: Indra’s Threat, Saṃvarta’s Mantric Restraint, and Divine Reconciliation (अध्याय १०)
ऑपनआक्ाता बछ। अर: दशमो< ध्याय: इन्द्रका गन्धर्वराजको भेजकर मरुत्तको भय दिखाना और संवर्तका मन्त्रबलसे इन्द्रसहित सब देवताओंको बुलाकर मरुत्तका यज्ञ पूर्ण करना इन्द्र वाच एवमेतद् ब्रह्म॒बलं गरीयो न ब्राह्मणात् किंचिदन्यद् गरीय: । आविक्षितस्य तु बल॑ न मृष्ये वज्मस्मै प्रहरिष्यामि घोरम्,इन्द्रने कहा--यह ठीक है कि ब्रह्मबल सबसे बढ़कर है। ब्राह्मणसे श्रेष्ठ दूसरा कोई नहीं है; किंतु मैं राजा मरुत्तके बलको नहीं सह सकता। उनके ऊपर अवश्य अपने घोर वज्रका प्रहार करूँगा
śakra uvāca | evam etad brahma-balaṃ garīyo na brāhmaṇāt kiṃcid anyad garīyaḥ | āvikṣitasya tu balaṃ na mṛṣye vajram asmai prahariṣyāmi ghoram |
Śakra (Indra) said: “So it is indeed: brahma-bala is the greatest; nothing is greater than a brāhmaṇa. Yet I cannot endure the might of King Marutta, of the line of Āvikṣit. I will strike him with my terrible thunderbolt (vajra).”
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Indra acknowledges a central dharmic hierarchy: brahma-bala (spiritual and mantra power) and the status of the brāhmaṇa are supreme. Yet the verse also exposes how ego and intolerance can drive even a god to contemplate violence against a righteous king, highlighting the ethical tension between recognizing dharma and acting from jealousy or fear.
Indra, speaking as Śakra, concedes that no power surpasses that of sacred knowledge and the brāhmaṇa. Nevertheless, he declares he cannot bear the growing strength and prominence of King Marutta (of the Āvikṣit line) and threatens to strike him with the vajra, setting up a conflict between divine pride and the momentum of a king’s sacrifice.