Shloka 5
Draupadī’s Instruction on Marital Conduct and Household Discipline (चित्तग्रहण-उपदेश)
अपां गर्भो महाभागः सच्त्वभुग् यो महाद्धुत: । भूपतिर्भुवभर्ता च महत: पतिरुच्यते,“जो “आप' नामवाले सहके पुत्र हैं, जो महाभाग, सत्त्वभोक्ता, भूलोकके पालक और भुवर्लोकके स्वामी हैं, वे अद्भुत नामक महान् अग्नि बुद्धितत््वके अधिपति बताये जाते हैं!
apāṁ garbho mahābhāgaḥ sattvabhug yo mahādbhutaḥ | bhūpatir bhuvabhartā ca mahataḥ patir ucyate ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “He is called the ‘womb of the waters’—a greatly fortunate being—who partakes of the essences of all that lives. He is the great ‘Adbhuta’ (the Wondrous), the king and protector of the earth, the lord who upholds the worlds, and he is declared to be the master of the ‘Mahat’ (the cosmic principle).”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames legitimate sovereignty as cosmic stewardship: the true ‘lord’ is one who sustains earth and worlds and presides over foundational principles (Mahat), implying that power is ethically justified by protection and support of life.
Mārkaṇḍeya is describing a supreme, wondrous cosmic being—identified through epithets like ‘womb of the waters’ and ‘lord of Mahat’—to explain that this figure governs and sustains the world-order, not merely ruling politically but upholding creation itself.