Shloka 353

कुमाराभिषेकप्रश्नः — Inquiry into Kumāra (Skanda) Investiture at Sarasvatī

Devanagari script

वधिष्याम्यसुरश्रेष्ठ सखे सत्येन ते शपे । पहलेकी बात है

Transliteration

vadhīṣyāmy asuraśreṣṭha sakhe satyena te śape | pūrvasya vṛttānto 'yaṃ—namucir indrasya bhayād ādityaraśmiṣu samāviśat | tata indreṇa saha tasya sakhyaṃ kṛtaṃ, iyaṃ ca pratijñā kṛtā—“asuraśreṣṭha! na tvāṃ kliṣṭena āyudhena haniṣyāmi, na śuṣkeṇa; na divā, na rātrau; sakhe! satyena śapathena tvām etad bravīmi” |

Translation

“Wahai yang terbaik di antara para Asura, sahabatku—demi kebenaran aku bersumpah: aku akan membunuhmu.” Inilah kisah lama: Namuci, gentar oleh Indra, melebur ke dalam sinar matahari. Lalu Śakra menjalin persahabatan dengannya dan mengucapkan nazar ini: “Wahai Asura terkemuka, aku tidak akan membunuhmu dengan senjata yang basah maupun yang kering; tidak pada siang hari maupun pada malam hari. Sahabat, dengan sumpah atas kebenaran aku menyatakan ini kepadamu.”

Word by Word

• {'vadhīṣyāmi': 'I will kill/slay', 'asuraśreṣṭha': 'best/foremost among Asuras', 'sakhe': 'friend (vocative)', 'satyena': 'by truth

• invoking truth as an oath', 'śape/śapathena': 'I swear

• by an oath', 'namuciḥ': 'Namuci (an Asura, Indra’s adversary in an old legend)', 'indraḥ': 'Indra (king of the gods)', 'bhayāt': 'from fear', 'ādityaraśmiṣu': 'in the sun’s rays', 'samāviśat/samāgataḥ': 'entered/merged into', 'sakhyam': 'friendship, alliance', 'pratijñā': 'vow, solemn promise', 'āyudhena': 'with a weapon', 'kliṣṭa (gīla)': 'wet, moistened', 'śuṣka': 'dry', 'divā': 'by day', 'rātrau': 'by night', 'na ... na ...': 'neither ... nor ...'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Namuci
• Indra
• Āditya (Sun)
• sun’s rays (ādityaraśmi)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage highlights the moral complexity of vows: invoking truth to bind oneself ethically, yet creating conditions that can be exploited. It raises the question of whether clever circumvention preserves or violates the spirit of dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana recounts an old episode: Namuci, fearing Indra, hides by merging into the sun’s rays. Indra befriends him and swears a protective vow—he will not kill Namuci with wet or dry weapons, nor by day or night—setting up the later problem of how Indra can still defeat him.