Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 18, Shloka 9
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
भुवः पालनसामर्थ्ययुक्त एको महीपतिः ।
पृथिव्यां शस्त्रधृङ्मान्यस्त्वहमेवर्धिसंयुतः ।
ततो भविष्ये नात्मानं करिष्ये पापभागिनम् ॥
bhuvaḥ pālanasāmarthya-yukta eko mahīpatiḥ | pṛthivyāṃ śastradhṛṅ-mānyas tv aham evardhi-saṃyutaḥ | tato bhaviṣye nātmānaṃ kariṣye pāpa-bhāginam ||
（他思忖道：）“大地之上当有一位独一的君主，具足护持世界之力。我在执兵之士中受尊崇，亦具威力与昌盛。故我当成为那位统治者，不使自身分担罪业。”
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FAQs
Power is justified only by protective competence and moral accountability. The king’s stated aim is not mere conquest but governance that avoids adharma and karmic stain.
Ethical instruction embedded in narrative (ancillary to vaṃśānucarita/royal stories), rather than a direct cosmological or genealogical register.
The ‘single king’ motif can symbolize unified inner sovereignty—integrated will and discernment—so that actions do not fragment into contradictory impulses that generate ‘sin’ (inner disorder).