Shloka 36
इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्
Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration
न कन्यां याचते कक्षिन्नापि कन्या प्रदीयते । स्वयंग्राहा भविष्यन्ति युगान्ते समुपस्थिते
na kanyāṃ yācate kaścin nāpi kanyā pradīyate | svayaṃgrāhā bhaviṣyanti yugānte samupasthite ||
Dijo Mārkaṇḍeya: «En ese tiempo, nadie irá a pedir a una doncella en matrimonio, ni una doncella será entregada formalmente. Cuando se acerque el fin de la era, las uniones nacerán por elección propia y por toma propia, fuera de los ritos acostumbrados».
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse portrays a yuga-ending decline in dharmic social institutions: marriage shifts from a rite governed by family and prescribed norms (asking and giving) to unregulated self-choice/self-taking, signaling erosion of communal responsibility and customary dharma.
Mārkaṇḍeya is describing signs of the approaching end of an age (yugānta). As part of these portents, he notes that traditional marriage negotiations and formal gifting of the bride will cease, replaced by spontaneous self-formed unions.