Shloka 126
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
ऋतुषु दशगुणं वदन्ति दत्तं शतगुणमृत्वयनादिदषु ध्रुवम् । भवति सहस्रगुणं दिनस्य राहो- विंषुवति चाक्षयमश्लुते फलम्,विद्वान् पुरुष ऋतु प्रारम्भ होनेके दिन दिये हुए दानको दस गुना तथा अयन आदिके दिन सौ गुना बताते हैं। इसी प्रकार ग्रहणके दिन दिये हुए दानका फल सहखगुना होता है और विषुवयोगमें दान करनेसे मनुष्य उसके अक्षय पुण्य-फलका उपभोग करता है
ṛtuṣu daśaguṇaṁ vadanti dattaṁ śataguṇam ṛtvayanādiṣu dhruvam | bhavati sahasraguṇaṁ dinasya rāho-viṣuvati cākṣayam aśnute phalam ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “They declare that a gift given on seasonal occasions yields tenfold merit; on the days marking the solstices and other such sacred transitions it yields a hundredfold without fail. A gift given on the day of an eclipse bears a thousandfold result; and when given at the equinox it becomes inexhaustible in its fruit.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the ethical power of dāna (charitable giving) is intensified when performed at cosmically significant times—seasons, solstices (ayana), eclipses (associated with Rāhu), and equinoxes (viṣuva)—with the equinox gift described as yielding inexhaustible (akṣaya) merit.
Mārkaṇḍeya is instructing his listeners on dharma by explaining traditional gradations of merit for gifts given on particular calendrical and astronomical occasions, emphasizing how timing (kāla) is understood to shape the fruit (phala) of righteous acts.