Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 10, Shloka 90
Adhyaya 10 — Jaimini’s Questions on Birth, Death, Karma, and the Embodied Journey
विप्रदेवेन्द्रतां चापि कदाचिदवरोहणीम् ।
एवन्तु पापकर्माणे नरकेषु पतन्त्यधः ॥
vipradevendratāṃ cāpi kadācid avarohiṇīm | evantu pāpakarmāṇe narakeṣu patanty adhaḥ ||
Sometimes he may (rise) even to brahminhood or to the state of Indra among the gods, and sometimes (fall) into descending births. Thus do those engaged in sinful actions fall down into the hells.
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FAQs
High status—human or divine—is unstable when not grounded in dharma. The verse closes by reasserting that persistent pāpa leads to downfall, regardless of intermittent elevation.
General dharma/karmaphala summary statement; tangentially connected to manvantara insofar as ‘Indra’ is an office recurring across cosmic ages, but here used mainly as a karmic benchmark.
‘Indrahood’ symbolizes temporary mastery of the senses (indriyas) and powers; ‘falling to hell’ symbolizes collapse into compulsions when ethical vigilance is lost.