Adhyaya 18 — Arjuna Declines the Throne; Garga Directs Him to Dattatreya; The Gods Defeat the Daityas through Dattatreya’s Vision and the Movement of Lakshmi
शivikāyāṃ समारोप्य सहिताः दैत्यदानवाः ।
शिरः सु शivikāṃ कृत्वा स्वस्थानाभिमुखं ययुः ॥
śivikāyāṃ samāropya sahitā daityadānavāḥ | śiraḥ su śivikāṃ kṛtvā svasthānābhimukhaṃ yayuḥ ||
اسے پالکی میں بٹھا کر دَیت اور دانَو مل کر اسے سر پر اٹھائے اپنے ٹھکانے کی طرف چل پڑے۔
The verse emphasizes collective participation: adharma is not only the leader’s fault but the group’s. Bearing on the head ironically foreshadows the ‘burden’ of sin and its karmic weight.
Narrative ethics; not a cosmological/genealogical unit.
To ‘carry on the head’ what one does not deserve symbolizes the mind elevating a stolen object to the status of ultimate value—an inversion that precipitates downfall.