Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 91, Shloka 1
Adhyaya 91 — The Gods’ Hymn to Kātyāyanī and the Goddess’ Prophecy of Future Manifestations
जज्वलुश्चाग्नयः शान्ताः शान्ता दिग्जनितस्वनाः ।
इति श्रीमार्कण्डेयपुराणे सावर्णिके मन्वन्तरे देवीमाहात्म्ये शुम्भवधोनाम नवतितमोऽध्यायः ।
एकनवतितमोऽध्यायः- ९१ ।
ऋषिरुवाच देव्याऽ हते तत्र महासुरेन्द्रे सेन्द्राः सुरा वन्हिपुरोगमास्ताम् ।
कात्यायनीं तुष्टुवुरिष्टलाभाद् विकाशिवक्त्राब्जविकाशिताशाः ॥
jajvaluś cāgnayaḥ śāntāḥ śāntā dig-janita-svanāḥ /
iti śrī-mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇe sāvarṇike manvantare devī-māhātmye śumbha-vadho nāma navatitamo 'dhyāyaḥ /
ekanavatitamo 'dhyāyaḥ—91 /
ṛṣir uvāca devyā hate tatra mahāsurendre sendrāḥ surā vahni-purogamās tām /
kātyāyanīṃ tuṣṭuvur iṣṭa-lābhād vikāśi-vaktrābja-vikāśitāśāḥ
The fires, now appeased, blazed steadily; the sounds that had arisen from the quarters were quieted. (Here ends in the Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, in the Sāvarṇika Manvantara, in the Devī Māhātmya, the ninetieth chapter called ‘The Slaying of Śumbha’.) Chapter 91 begins. The Ṛṣi said: When the Goddess had slain that great lord of the Asuras, the gods—along with Indra, with Agni at their head—praised Kātyāyanī, their faces blooming, their hopes fulfilled by the attainment of their desired ends.
FAQs
The proper culmination of divine rescue is stuti (praise) and recognition: success (iṣṭa-lābha) is attributed to the higher power that restores order, not to mere self-assertion.
Explicitly anchored in Manvantara (Sāvarṇika). The colophon situates the Devī Māhātmyam episode as sacred history within a cosmic time-cycle, aligning Purāṇic narrative with chronological structuring.
Pacified fires and quieted quarters indicate the settling of elemental turbulence; the ‘blooming lotus-faces’ signify sattvic awakening—gratitude and clarity arising when the inner ‘asura-lord’ (dominating ego) is overcome.