Shloka 8
अग्निनाम-वंश-निरूपणम् | Agni-Names and Lineage Enumeration
स्वधर्म इति कृत्वा तु न त्यजामि द्विजोत्तम । पुरा कृतमिति ज्ञात्वा जीवाम्येतेन कर्मणा,“विप्रवर! मैं अपना स्वधर्म समझकर यह धंधा नहीं छोड़ रहा हूँ। पहलेसे मेरे पूर्वज यही करते आये हैं, ऐसा समझकर मैं इसी कर्मसे जीवन-निर्वाह करता हूँ
svadharma iti kṛtvā tu na tyajāmi dvijottama | purā kṛtam iti jñātvā jīvāmy etena karmaṇā ||
‘O best of Brahmins, I do not abandon this occupation, taking it to be my own dharma. Knowing that it is an ancient practice—done from of old by those before me—I sustain my life by this very work.’
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames livelihood as an ethical question: the speaker justifies continuing an occupation by appealing to svadharma (one’s proper duty) and inherited tradition, emphasizing continuity of customary work as a basis for sustaining life.
Mārkaṇḍeya addresses a Brahmin interlocutor and explains why he does not give up a particular ‘trade/occupation’: he regards it as his own duty and as an ancestral practice, and therefore continues it as his means of living.