The Invitation That Omitted Shiva
Bala Kanda, Doha 60
Doha 60 · Movement 2 of 2
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Daksha summons the sages and begins a vast yajna. Altars rise in ordered rows, sacred fires receive clarified butter, and the ritual ground fills with vessels, recitation, banners, and the movement of attendants.
Every god entitled to a portion is respectfully invited. Messengers travel through the worlds carrying the announcement, and celestial households prepare for the great gathering.
Yet beneath the splendour lies a deliberate absence. Shiva receives no invitation and no sacrificial share. The omission is silent upon the ceremonial list, but it will speak more violently than any public insult.
The guest list fills with divine names, and one unspoken name darkens the whole sacrifice.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 60
Human-headed Daksha respectfully receives two unnamed representative sages beside a prepared altar for the great yajna.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 82 · printed pages 80. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-061. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Daksha calls the sages and begins a great yajna, respectfully inviting the deities who receive sacrificial shares
Artistic choices
- Select Daksha receiving two unnamed representative sages during preparation; number is illustrative, no invented attendance list
- Human Daksha appearance before later goat-head episode, imaginative grey-bearded faces, robes, diadem, respectful hands, stone courtyard, unlit small altar, vessels, tree, mountain scenery and glass border added; no authenticated likenesses
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
दच्छ लिए मुनि बोलि सब करन लगे बड़ जाग। नेवते सादर सकल सुर जे पावत मख भाग।।60।।
Daksha summoned all the sages and began a great yajna. Every god entitled to a share of the sacrifice was respectfully invited.