Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 197
रुद्र उवाच । रणे न शक्यते हंतुमपि देववरैरपि । तस्मात्त्वया हि कर्तव्यं कुत्सितं कर्म चाद्य वै
rudra uvāca | raṇe na śakyate haṃtumapi devavarairapi | tasmāttvayā hi kartavyaṃ kutsitaṃ karma cādya vai
Rudra dit : «Au combat, il ne peut être tué, même par les plus grands des dieux. C’est pourquoi, aujourd’hui, tu dois accomplir un acte blâmable, comme moyen requis.»
Rudra (Śiva)
Tirtha: Kedāra (Kedārakṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Indra (Mahendra/Śakra)
Scene: Rudra/Śambhu, austere and luminous, instructs Indra amid a tense war-council: the enemy is unslayable by direct combat; a morally fraught stratagem is advised.
FAQs
Some karmic knots cannot be cut by force alone; resolving them may involve difficult, morally complex choices under divine guidance.
The Kedāra sacred narrative frame is present, but the verse focuses on the ethical-strategic dimension of the story.
No ritual is prescribed here; it foreshadows a specific ‘upāya’ to be explained next.