Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 15, Shloka 15
Adhyaya 15 — Karmic Retribution: Rebirths After Naraka and the King’s Compassion in Hell
नरकात् सोऽपि विभ्रष्टः क्रौञ्चयोनौ प्रजायते ।
शूद्रश्च ब्राह्मणारिं गत्वा कृमियोनौ प्रजायते ॥
narakāt so 'pi vibhraṣṭaḥ krauñcayonau prajāyate | śūdraś ca brāhmaṇāriṃ gatvā kṛmiyonau prajāyate ||
ನರಕದಿಂದ ಪತಿತನಾಗಿ ಅವನು ಕ್ರೌಂಚ ಪಕ್ಷಿಯ ಗರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಜನ್ಮಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣ ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯನ್ನು ಸೇರುವ ಶೂದ್ರನು ಹುಳದ ಯೋನಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಜನ್ಮಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ.
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FAQs
The text treats certain social/sexual transgressions and disrespectful conduct as ‘adharma’ producing severe devolution of birth. Whatever one thinks of historical social codes, the Purāṇic moral mechanism is consistent: actions that violate prescribed boundaries create heavy karmic imprint, described here as lowly yonis.
Primarily dharma-śikṣā (ethical injunction) rather than cosmological lakṣaṇas. It is ancillary Purāṇic instruction used to regulate conduct and explain karmic causality.
‘Worm-birth’ functions as a symbol of extreme constriction of consciousness—life dominated by instinct and limitation—portraying how misuse of desire (kāma) can contract the being’s future experiential range.