Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 88, Shloka 1
Adhyaya 88 — The Manifestation of the Matrikas and the Slaying of Raktabija
इति श्रीमार्कण्डेयपुराणे सावर्णिके मन्वन्तरे देवीमाहात्म्ये चण्डमुण्डवधोनाम सप्ताशीतितमोऽध्यायः । अष्टाशीतितमोऽध्यायः- ८८ । ऋषिरुवाच चण्डे च निहते दैत्ये मुण्डे च विनिपातिते । बहुलेषु च सैन्येषु क्षयितेष्वसुरेश्वरः ॥
iti śrīmārkaṇḍeyapurāṇe sāvarṇike manvantare devīmāhātmye caṇḍamuṇḍavadhonāma saptāśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ / aṣṭāśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ- 88 / ṛṣir uvāca caṇḍe ca nihate daitye muṇḍe ca vinipātite / bahuleṣu ca sainyeṣu kṣayiteṣv asureśvaraḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, in the Sāvarṇika Manvantara, in the Devī-māhātmya, ends the eighty-seventh chapter called “The Slaying of Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa.” (Now begins) Chapter 88. The Ṛṣi said: When the daitya Caṇḍa was slain and Muṇḍa was struck down, and when many troops had been destroyed, the lord of the asuras (then responded…).
FAQs
Evil escalates when checked: the fall of key aggressors does not end conflict; it often exposes the deeper root (the asura-lord). The text prepares the listener for perseverance in dharmic struggle.
Manvantara + Anucarita: the colophon explicitly anchors the episode in a manvantara, while the battle narrative serves as illustrative history (anucarita) within that cosmic administration period.
The ‘many troops destroyed’ motif signals the stripping away of subsidiary tendencies before confronting the central egoic sovereignty (asureśvara), a common inner-reading of the Śumbha–Niśumbha cycle.