यथाहं त्वदृते वीर नान्यं स्वप्रेडप्पचिन्तयम् । तथा मे देवनिर्दिष्टस्त्वमेव हि पतिर्भव,“वीर! यदि मैंने आपके सिवा दूसरे किसी पुरुषका स्वप्रमें भी चिन्तन न किया हो तो देवताओंके दिये हुए एकमात्र आप ही मेरे पति हों?
yathāhaṃ tvadṛte vīra nānyaṃ svapne 'pi cintayam | tathā me devanirdiṣṭas tvam eva hi patir bhava ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “O hero, if it is true that—apart from you—I have not even in a dream turned my thoughts toward any other man, then you alone, appointed for me by the gods, should be my husband.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
The verse links personal integrity (not entertaining desire for another even in thought) with dharmic legitimacy in marriage, presenting fidelity and truthfulness as ethical grounds for accepting a divinely sanctioned spouse.
Mārkaṇḍeya narrates a statement in which a woman addresses a hero: she asserts her exclusive mental fidelity to him and, on that basis, declares him to be the one husband ordained for her by the gods.