Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 50, Shloka 38
Adhyaya 50 — Mind-Born Progeny, Svayambhuva Manu’s Lineage, and Brahmā’s Ordinance to Duḥsaha (Alakṣmī’s Retinue)
तथैवान्यो गृहे पुंसां दुःसहो नाम विश्रुतः ।
क्षुत्क्षामोऽधोमुखो नग्रश्चीरी काकसमस्वनः ॥
tathaivānyo gṛhe puṃsāṃ duḥsaho nāma viśrutaḥ | kṣutkṣāmo 'dhomukho nagraścīrī kākasamasvanaḥ ||
उसी प्रकार मनुष्यों के घरों में एक और प्राणी प्रकट हुआ, जो ‘दुःसह’ नाम से प्रसिद्ध था। वह भूख से क्षीण, मुख नीचे किए, नग्न, फटे-पुराने वस्त्रों में लिपटा और कौए जैसी वाणी वाला दिखाई दिया।
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FAQs
Duḥsaha is introduced as a visible embodiment of deprivation and degradation that can enter human dwellings—suggesting that neglect of dharma (order, cleanliness, right conduct, right offerings) invites tamasic conditions: squalor, hunger, shamelessness, and harsh speech.
Primarily Dharma/ācāra instruction by allegory rather than cosmography; secondarily touches Sarga-like motif (creation/emanation of a being) as a didactic device, but it is not a full sarga account.
The ‘downward face’ and crow-like voice symbolize consciousness pulled down by tamas—speech becomes inauspicious and mind turns earthward. The figure warns that inner impurity externalizes as disorder in one’s home and habits.