Shloka 29
Marutta’s Sacrifice and Agni’s Embassy (मरुत्त-यज्ञे दूतत्वम्)
इन्द्र वाच न गण्डिकाकारयोगं करे<णुं न चारिसोम॑ प्रपिबामि वल्ले न क्षीणशक्तौ प्रहरामि वजन को मे5सुखाय प्रहरेत मर्त्य:,इन्द्रने कहा--अग्निदेव! मैं पर्वतको भी मक्खीके समान छोटा कर सकता हूँ तो भी शत्रुका दिया हुआ सोमरस नहीं पीता हूँ और जिसकी शक्ति क्षीण हो गयी है, ऐसे शत्रुपर वज्रका प्रहार नहीं करता। फिर भी कौन ऐसा मनुष्य है जो मुझे कष्ट पहुँचानेके लिये मुझपर प्रहार कर सके?
śakra uvāca — na gaṇḍikākāra-yogaṁ kareṇuṁ na cāri-somaṁ prapibāmi valle | na kṣīṇa-śaktau praharāmi vajraṁ ko me sukhāya praharet martyaḥ ||
Śakra (Indra) said: “Even though I am able to reduce a mountain to the size of a fly, I do not drink soma offered by an enemy. Nor do I strike with the thunderbolt against one whose strength has already been spent. Then what mortal could strike me so as to cause me pain?”
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power is to be governed by restraint: one should not accept an enemy’s intoxicating/compromising offering, and one should not strike a weakened opponent. True strength includes ethical self-control.
Indra (Śakra) speaks of his immense capability, yet emphasizes his chosen limits—refusing an enemy’s soma and refusing to strike the enfeebled—then challenges the idea that any mortal could truly harm him.