Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 81, Shloka 18
Adhyaya 81 — Suratha and Samadhi Seek Sage Medhas; Introduction to Mahamaya and the Madhukaitabha Origin Account
वैश्य उवाच समाधिर्नाम वैश्योऽहमुत्पन्नो धनिनां कुले ।
पुत्रदारैर्निरस्तश्च धनलोभादसाधुभिः ॥
vaiśya uvāca samādhir nāma vaiśyo 'ham utpanno dhanināṃ kule /
putra-dārair nirastaś ca dhana-lobhād asādhubhiḥ
The merchant said: “I am a Vaiśya named Samādhi, born into a wealthy family. Driven by greed for riches, my own sons and wife—unrighteous and contrary to dharma—have cast me out.”
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FAQs
Greed corrodes dharma within the household; even intimate relations can become predatory when wealth becomes the sole value. The verse also shows that suffering is not confined to kings—thus universalizing the problem of bondage.
It is part of vaṃśānucarita-style human narrative only in the loosest sense; functionally it is an ākhyāna segment introducing the Devi Mahatmyam’s soteriological teaching.
‘Sons and wife’ can symbolize one’s own attachments and identifications that ‘expel’ the self from inner peace. The name Samādhi is ironic here—suggesting the latent capacity for true samādhi that will be redirected toward the Goddess.