Shloka 14
Manoḥ Carita
The Account of Manu Vaivasvata and the Mātsyaka Flood Narrative
स्यादयं ब्राह्मण: सो5थ युष्माभियों विनाशित: । पुत्रो हयं मम नृपास्तपोबलसमन्वित:,फिर तो वे लज्जित होकर इधर-उधर उसकी खोज करने लगे। स्वप्नकी भाँति उनकी चेतना लुप्त-सी हो गयी। तब मुनिवर अरिष्टनेमिने उनसे कहा--“परपुरंजय! तुम लोगोंने जिसे मार डाला था, वह यही ब्राह्मण तो नहीं है? राजाओ! यह मेरा तपोबलसम्पन्न पुत्र है!
syād ayaṃ brāhmaṇaḥ so ’tha yuṣmābhir vināśitaḥ | putro ’yaṃ mama nṛpās tapobalasamanvitaḥ ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Could it be that this is the very brāhmaṇa whom you have destroyed? O kings, this is my son, endowed with the strength born of austerity.” The statement confronts the rulers with the moral weight of their act—warning that violence against the innocent, especially a brāhmaṇa, rebounds as shame and spiritual peril, and that ascetic power stands as a counterforce to royal might.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power is not only political or martial: ascetic merit (tapas) carries moral and spiritual authority. The verse underscores the grave adharma of harming an innocent—especially a brāhmaṇa—and reminds rulers that their actions invite accountability beyond worldly law.
Mārkaṇḍeya addresses a group of kings, identifying the brāhmaṇa they believe they have destroyed and revealing him as Mārkaṇḍeya’s own son, endowed with ascetic power. The moment heightens the kings’ shame and signals that their deed has serious ethical and karmic implications.