Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 50, Shloka 88
Adhyaya 50 — Mind-Born Progeny, Svayambhuva Manu’s Lineage, and Brahmā’s Ordinance to Duḥsaha (Alakṣmī’s Retinue)
लङ्घ्यन्ते यत्र धान्यानि पक्वापक्वानि वेश्मनि ।
तद्वच्छास्त्राणि तत्र त्वं यथेष्टं चर दुःसह ॥
laṅghyante yatra dhānyāni pakvāpakvāni veśmani | tadvac chāstrāṇi tatra tvaṃ yatheṣṭaṃ cara duḥsaha ||
Where grains—cooked and uncooked—are stepped over in the house, and likewise the scriptures are treated with similar disrespect, there you may roam as you please, O intolerable one.
FAQs
Disrespect toward food (anna) and sacred knowledge (śāstra) is portrayed as a direct cause of misfortune. Reverence for sustenance and learning is central to household dharma.
Ancillary dharma instruction rather than the five defining Purāṇic narrative categories.
Anna represents life-force; śāstra represents guiding intelligence. Stepping over them symbolizes trampling prāṇa and buddhi—thereby granting free movement to tamasic forces (the ‘duḥsaha’).