Shloka 17
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
मार्कण्डेय उदाच हन्त ते वर्णयिष्यामि नमस्कृत्वा स्वयम्भुवे । पुरुषाय पुराणाय शाश्वतायाव्ययाय च
Mārkaṇḍeya uvāca: hanta te varṇayiṣyāmi namaskṛtvā svayambhuve | puruṣāya purāṇāya śāśvatāyāvyayāya ca ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Very well—listen; I shall describe it to you. Having first bowed in reverence to the Self-born Lord, to the Primeval Person—eternal and undecaying—I will begin.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Before transmitting sacred or morally weighty knowledge, the speaker grounds the narration in reverence to the eternal, imperishable source of order (Svayambhū/Puruṣa). The verse models humility, legitimacy of speech, and the ethical discipline of beginning discourse with remembrance of the highest principle.
Mārkaṇḍeya prepares to begin a detailed account. He signals readiness (“hanta”), addresses the listener directly (“to you”), and performs an invocation—bowing to the Self-born, primeval, eternal, undecaying Puruṣa—thereby framing the forthcoming narration as sacred and authoritative.