Shloka 41
कुमाराभिषेकप्रश्नः — Inquiry into Kumāra (Skanda) Investiture at Sarasvatī
निगूढमस्यागमनमिहासीत पूर्वमेव तु । ततो<भ्येत्यारुणां देवीं प्लावयामास वारिणा
nigūḍham asyāgamanam ihāsīt pūrvam eva tu | tato 'bhyetyāruṇāṃ devīṃ plāvayāmāsa vāriṇā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Her arrival here had already been kept secret beforehand. Then, coming up to the goddess Aruṇā, he flooded her with water—an act that advances the episode through concealment and sudden action, highlighting how hidden movements and forceful deeds shape outcomes in the war narrative.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how concealment and sudden decisive action can alter events; ethically, it points to the tension between straightforward conduct and strategic secrecy that frequently arises in wartime narratives.
The narrator states that a woman’s arrival had been deliberately kept secret; afterward someone approaches the goddess named Aruṇā and drenches or inundates her with water, marking a forceful turn in the episode.