a riddle

भोजनान्ते च किं पेयम्

जयन्तः कस्य वै सुतः।

कथं विष्णुपदं प्रोक्तम्

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभम्॥

bhojanānte ca kiṁ peyam

jayantaḥ kasya vai sutaḥ|

kathaṁ viṣṇupadaṁ proktam

takraṁ śakrasya durlabham||

( A riddle)

The scholars and poets in Sanskrit enjoyed creating and somewhat unclear and partial portions of a verse often having funny meanings,, often conveying unitended meanins when read in isolation..

These were often called samasyas.. or even prahelikas..

There were even contests having huge prize money.. where kings often circulated such samsyas... and the greatness of the participant writer or poet was measured often on the basis of the popular impact created by answering such riddles..

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभं takram shakrasya durlabhma is such a riddle..

The apparent meaning of the sentence is that

' buttermilk is scarce even for the king of gods.. indra."

That would look funny..

Indra is the lord of heaven and all the resources anywhere in the universe is under the control..

How can one think of some sort of ration for buttermil for such a great personage?

but the story of the riddle is entirely different..

Three questions are asked..

three questions unconncected with one another ..

in the three legs of a sloka in anustutp metre..

and the answers are given in a string is the fourth line..

भोजनान्ते च किं पेयं bhojanaante cha kim peryam...

what is it that one should drink at the end of a sumptuos meal?

जयन्तः कस्य वै सुतः। jayantaH kasya vai sutaH..

whose son is Jayanta?

कथं विष्णुपदं प्रोक्तम् katham vishnupadam proktham..

how easy it is to obatin the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu ?

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभम्॥ takram shakraya durlabham.. buttermilk, Indra or shakra is difficult to obtain..

when read together the last sentence would apparently convey that "buttermilk is a sacarce commodity ever for Indra..'

That is not meant to be so.

This last sentence is just the answer for the three questions.. that one should drink buttermilk (takram) at the conclusion of a gourmet meal,

that Jayantha is the son of Indra or Shakrasya,

and

that the proximity to Lord Vishnu is very difficult to attain or durlabham ..

Indeed a riddle..

Of course it has an explanation .. a way out of the apparent maze of absurdity..

That is quite unlike many posts and forwards found in social media ..

Mysterious absurdities just get unmystified absurdities here..