न्यषेधद् दैत्यराट् श्लोक्यः सन्धिविग्रहकालवित् ॥२८॥
dṛṣá¹vÄrÄ«n apy asaá¹yattÄñ
jÄta-ká¹£obhÄn sva-nÄyakÄn
nyaá¹£edhad daitya-rÄá¹ Å›lokyaḥ
sandhi-vigraha-kÄlavit
dṛṣá¹vÄ - observing; arÄ«n - the enemies; api - although; asaá¹yattÄn - without any endeavor to fight; jÄta-ká¹£obhÄn - who became agitated; sva-nÄyakÄn - his own captains and commanders; nyaá¹£edhat - prevented; daitya-rÄá¹ - the Emperor of the Daityas, MahÄrÄja Bali; Å›lokyaḥ - very respectable and prominent; sandhi - for making negotiations; vigraha - as well as for fighting; kÄla - the time; vit - completely aware of.
MahÄrÄja Bali, a most celebrated king of the demons, knew very well when to make peace and when to fight. Thus although his commanders and captains were agitated and were about to kill the demigods, MahÄrÄja Bali, seeing that the demigods were coming to him without a militant attitude, forbade his commanders to kill them.
Vedic etiquette enjoins: gá¹›he Å›atrum api prÄptaá¹ viÅ›vastam akutobhayam. When enemies come to their opponent’s place, they should be received in such a way that they will forget that there is animosity between the two parties. Bali MahÄrÄja was well conversant with the arts of peacemaking and fighting. Thus he received the demigods very well, although his commanders and captains were agitated. This kind of treatment was prevalent even during the fight between the PÄṇá¸avas and the Kurus. During the day, the PÄṇá¸avas and Kurus would fight with the utmost strength, and when the day was over they would go to each other’s camps as friends and be received as such. During such friendly meetings, one enemy would offer anything the other enemy wanted. That was the system.
