Shloka 35
कुमाराभिषेकप्रश्नः — Inquiry into Kumāra (Skanda) Investiture at Sarasvatī
तेनेन्द्र: सख्यमकरोत् समयं चेदमब्रवीत् | नचार्द्रेण न शुष्केण न रात्रौी नापि चाहनि
tenendraḥ sakhyam akarot samayaṃ cedam abravīt | na cārdreṇa na śuṣkeṇa na rātrau na api ca ahani
അപ്പോൾ ഇന്ദ്രൻ അവനോട് സൗഹൃദം സ്ഥാപിച്ച് ഈ കരാർ പറഞ്ഞു—‘നനഞ്ഞതുകൊണ്ടും അല്ല, ഉണങ്ങിയതുകൊണ്ടും അല്ല; രാത്രിയിലും അല്ല, പകലിലും അല്ല.’
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse cautions that agreements can be manipulated through narrowly defined conditions. Ethically, it points to the difference between honoring the spirit of a promise versus exploiting its wording to gain advantage.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Indra forms an alliance and states a specific set of prohibitions—no killing (or harming) by wet or dry means, neither at night nor by day—setting up a conditional pact whose phrasing invites later circumvention.