Shloka 1
Adhyaya 14 — The Messenger of Yama Explains Karmic Retribution and the Causes of Naraka Torments
इति श्रीमार्कण्डेयपुराणे पितापुत्रसंवादो नाम त्रयोदशोऽध्यायः ।
चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः पुत्र उवाच इति पृष्टस्तदा तेन शृण्वतां नो महात्मना ।
उवाच पुरुषो याम्यो घोरोऽपि प्रसृतं वचः ॥
iti śrīmārkaṇḍeyapurāṇe pitā-putrasaṃvādo nāma trayodaśo 'dhyāyaḥ caturdaśo 'dhyāyaḥ putra uvāca iti pṛṣṭastadā tena śṛṇvatāṃ no mahātmanā / uvāca puruṣo yāmyo ghoro 'pi prasṛtaṃ vacaḥ
Thus ends the thirteenth chapter of the Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, called “The Dialogue of Father and Son.” Then begins the fourteenth chapter. When he (the son) questioned him, while the great-souled one listened, a dreadful being of Yama spoke forth words.
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FAQs
The text formally pivots from lament to adjudication: inquiry (praśna) invites a precise account of the moral cause, reflecting the Purāṇic emphasis on intelligible karmic order rather than arbitrary punishment.
This is a structural/colophonic marker within narrative instruction; it is outside the five-lakṣaṇa categories.
The appearance of Yama’s agent signifies the ‘cosmic audit’ function—conscience and cosmic law externalized—preparing the listener for a subtle, specific ethical point.