Shloka 83
युगान्ते हुतभुक् चापि सर्वतः प्रज्वलिष्यति । पानीयं भोजनं चापि याचमानास्तदाध्वगा:
yugānte hutabhuk cāpi sarvataḥ prajvaliṣyati | pānīyaṁ bhojanaṁ cāpi yācamānās tadādhvagāḥ ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “At the end of the age, the all-consuming Fire will blaze up on every side. Then travelers on the roads, overcome by distress, will go about begging for water and for food.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores impermanence and the fragility of worldly security: even basic necessities like water and food can vanish in times of cosmic or societal collapse. Ethically, it urges humility and preparedness—cultivating dharma and restraint rather than complacent dependence on prosperity.
Mārkaṇḍeya describes a yuga-ending catastrophe: a universal conflagration spreads everywhere. In that crisis, ordinary people—depicted as travelers—wander in desperation, begging for water and food, illustrating the severity of the dissolution.