Mahabharata 3.218.18

3.218.18

tatra tvaṃ māṃ raṇe tāta yathāśraddhaṃ vijeṣyasi |
tasmādindro bhavānadya bhavitā mā vicāraya || 18 ||

Sakra replied, 'Thy prowess is unrivalled, O hero, do thou therefore vanquish the enemies of the gods. People have been struck with wonder at thy prowess. More specially as I have been bereft of my prowess, and defeated by thee, now if I were to act as Indra, I should not command the respect of all creatures, and they would be busy in bringing about dissensions between us; and then, my lord, they would become the partisans of one or other of us. And when they formed themselves into two distinct factions, war as before would be the result of that defection. And in that war, thou wouldst undoubtedly defeat me without difficulty and thyself become the lord of all worlds.'