Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 16, Shloka 1
Adhyaya 16 — The Son’s Counsel on Renunciation and the Anasuya–Mandavya Episode: The Suspension of Sunrise and the Power of Pativrata
इति श्रीमार्कण्डेयपुराणे पितापुत्रसंवादो नाम पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः ।
षोडशोऽध्यायः पितावाच कथितं मे त्वया वत्स संसारस्य व्यवस्थितम् ।
स्वरूपमतीहेयस्य घटीयन्त्रवदव्ययम् ॥
iti śrīmārkaṇḍeyapurāṇe pitāputrasaṃvādo nāma pañcadaśo 'dhyāyaḥ | ṣoḍaśo 'dhyāyaḥ pitāvāca kathitaṃ me tvayā vatsa saṃsārasya vyavasthitam | svarūpam atiheyasya ghaṭīyantravad avyayam ||
Thus, in the revered Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, ends the fifteenth chapter called “The Dialogue of Father and Son.” Chapter Sixteen: The father said: “Dear child, you have explained to me the ordered functioning of saṃsāra—its form, hard to pass beyond, unceasing, like the mechanism of a water-clock.”
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FAQs
Saṃsāra is presented as lawful and repetitive—like a clockwork—implying that ethical action (dharma) is the rational response to a structured moral universe, not a chaotic one.
This is framing and reflective commentary rather than one of the five marks; it supports the Purāṇa’s didactic function that contextualizes cosmology and genealogy within lived moral reality.
The water-clock metaphor suggests time-bound compulsion: beings revolve in cycles until insight breaks identification with the mechanism. ‘Hard to cross’ implies the need for jñāna and vairāgya in addition to ritual merit.