Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 26, Shloka 29
Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
पितरो देवलोकस्थास्तथा तिर्यक्त्वमागताः ।
तद्वन्मनुष्यतां याता भूतवर्गे च संस्थिताः ॥
pitaro deva-loka-sthās tathā tiryaktvam āgatāḥ / tadvan manuṣyatāṃ yātā bhūta-varge ca saṃsthitāḥ //
पितर देव-लोक में निवास कर सकते हैं; वैसे ही वे पशु-योनि को भी प्राप्त हो सकते हैं; इसी प्रकार वे मनुष्य-भाव को पा सकते हैं, अथवा भूत-गणों में स्थित हो सकते हैं।
FAQs
Because the departed may exist in varied states, śrāddha/tarpaṇa is framed as universally beneficial—supporting ancestors regardless of their post-mortem destination.
Touches cosmological worldview (loka-vyavasthā) but remains within Anucarita/dharma instruction rather than formal Sarga/Manvantara exposition.
The verse encodes a ‘networked’ cosmos: offerings act as subtle transfers (saṃbandha) across planes. It also implies compassion beyond certainty—ritual as a hedge against epistemic limits about the dead’s condition.