Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvadasha Skandha, Shloka 4
Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi Tested by Indra and Blessed by Nara-Nārāyaṇa
आहुश्चिरायुषमृषिं मृकण्डतनयं जना: । य: कल्पान्ते ह्युर्वरितो येन ग्रस्तमिदं जगत् ॥ २ ॥ स वा अस्मत्कुलोत्पन्न: कल्पेऽस्मिन् भार्गवर्षभ: । नैवाधुनापि भूतानां सम्प्लव: कोऽपि जायते ॥ ३ ॥ एक एवार्णवे भ्राम्यन् ददर्श पुरुषं किल । वटपत्रपुटे तोकं शयानं त्वेकमद्भुतम् ॥ ४ ॥ एष न: संशयो भूयान् सूत कौतूहलं यत: । तं नश्छिन्धि महायोगिन् पुराणेष्वपि सम्मत: ॥ ५ ॥
āhuś cirāyuṣam ṛṣiṁ mṛkaṇḍu-tanayaṁ janāḥ yaḥ kalpānte hy urvarito yena grastam idaṁ jagat
Authorities say that Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi, the son of Mṛkaṇḍu, was a sage of extraordinarily long life, the sole survivor at the end of Brahmā’s day, when the entire universe was swallowed by the flood of annihilation. Yet that same Mārkaṇḍeya, the foremost descendant of Bhṛgu, was born in our own lineage during the present day of Brahmā, and in this day we have not seen any total dissolution. It is also well known that, while helplessly wandering in the great ocean of destruction, he beheld in those dreadful waters a wondrous Person—a baby boy lying all alone within the fold of a banyan leaf. O Sūta, I am greatly bewildered and eager to know about this exalted sage, Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi. O great yogī, you are accepted as authority in all the Purāṇas; therefore please cut through my doubt and dispel my confusion.
Lord Brahmā’s day, consisting of his 12 hours, lasts 4 billion 320 million years, and his night is of the same duration. Apparently Mārkaṇḍeya lived throughout one such day and night and in the following day of Brahmā continued living as the same Mārkaṇḍeya. It seems that when annihilation occurred during Brahmā’s night, the sage wandered throughout the fearful waters of destruction and saw within those waters an extraordinary personality lying on a banyan leaf. All of these mysteries concerning Mārkaṇḍeya will be clarified by Sūta Gosvāmī at the request of the great sages.
FAQs
The “wondrous child” is the Supreme Lord (Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa), revealing His transcendence: even when the universe is dissolved, He remains, and all creation rests within Him.
They are puzzled by the tradition that Mārkaṇḍeya survived the end-of-kalpa devastation, even though he is said to be born in the current age—so they request Sūta, an accepted Purāṇic authority, to resolve the apparent contradiction.
It directs the mind from changing circumstances to the unchanging Lord—cultivating faith that the Supreme is the stable refuge beyond worldly “floods” of uncertainty and time.