Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 51, Shloka 121
Adhyaya 51 — Yaksha Injunctions: Graha-Children and Female Spirits Causing Domestic and Ritual Disruptions
द्वितीयस्तु गुणान् मैत्रीं लोकस्थामपकर्षति ।
इत्येते दुः सहाः सर्वे यक्ष्मणः सन्ततावथ ।
पापाचाराः समाख्याताः यैर्व्याप्तमखिलं जगत् ॥
dvitīyas tu guṇān maitrīṃ lokasthām apakarṣati /
ity ete duḥsahāḥ sarve yakṣmaṇaḥ santatāv atha /
pāpācārāḥ samākhyātā yair vyāptam akhilaṃ jagat
The second diminishes virtues and the friendship that abides among people. Thus all these Duḥsahas are declared to be the progeny, the continuation, of Yakṣman; they are called evil practices, by which the entire world is pervaded.
{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The deepest harm is not only bodily but social: when virtues and mutual trust decline, society becomes a field for pervasive suffering. The text treats 'pāpācāra' as contagious and world-pervading.
A didactic-etiological conclusion to a localized origin narrative (closest to pratisarga-style explanation of how conditions proliferate in the world).
Yakṣman as 'consumption' symbolizes the consuming nature of vice: it eats away guṇa and maitrī. The 'pervasion of the world' mirrors how tamas spreads when vigilance (śauca, sat-saṅga, satya-vāk) is lost.