Shloka 49
इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्
Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration
पज्चमे वाथ षष्ले वा वर्षे कन्या प्रसूयते । सप्तवर्षा्टवर्षाश्न॒ प्रजास्यन्ति नरास्तदा,उस समय युगान्तकाल उपस्थित होनेपर लोगोंकी आयु अधिक-से-अधिक सोलह वर्षकी होगी, उसके बाद वे प्राणत्याग कर देंगे। पाँचवें या छठे वर्षमें स्त्रियाँ बच्चे पैदा करने लगेंगी और सात-आठ वर्षके पुरुष संतानोत्पादनमें प्रवृत्त हो जायँगे
pañcame vātha ṣaṣṭhe vā varṣe kanyā prasūyate | saptavarṣāṣṭavarṣāś ca prajāsyanti narās tadā ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Then, in that time of decline, a girl will bear a child in her fifth or even sixth year; and men of seven or eight years will beget offspring. Thus, when the end-time approaches, human life and maturity will be unnaturally shortened, and the order of society will be overturned.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a symptom of yuga-decline: when dharma weakens, human life-cycles and social norms become distorted, signaling moral and cosmic disorder rather than healthy prosperity.
Mārkaṇḍeya is describing future conditions at the approach of the end of an age, listing ominous signs—here, unnaturally early procreation—within a broader prophetic account of societal degeneration.