Adhyāya 283: Varṇa-vṛtti, Nyāya-ārjana, and the Decline-and-Restoration of Dharma (वर्णवृत्तिः न्यायार्जनं च)
तमुवाचाक्षिप मखं दक्षस्येति महेश्वर: । ततो वक्त्राद् विमुक्तेन सिंहेनेकेन लीलया
tam uvācākṣipa makhaṃ dakṣasyeti maheśvaraḥ | tato vaktrād vimuktena siṃhenekena līlayā
Mahēśvara sprach zu ihm: „Stürze Dakṣas Opfer um!“ Da machte sich ein einziger Löwe, aus seinem Mund entlassen, mit spielender Leichtigkeit daran, den Befehl auszuführen.
दक्ष उवाच
Ritual power and social prestige cannot substitute for humility and reverence; when sacrifice becomes an expression of ego or exclusion, it loses its dharmic grounding and invites correction.
Maheshvara orders that Daksha’s sacrifice be overthrown, and a lion—released from his mouth—acts as the instrument of that disruption, emphasizing divine authority over merely formal ritual.