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

“我必杀你，阿修罗之最——朋友啊，我以真实起誓。”这是往昔的故事：那牟支畏惧因陀罗，便融入太阳的光芒之中。于是因陀罗与他结为友好，并立下誓愿：“阿修罗中的魁首，我不以湿器杀你，也不以干器杀你；不在白昼杀你，也不在黑夜杀你。朋友，我以真实之誓对你如此言明。”

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.