Shloka 16
Adhyāya 188: Mārkaṇḍeya’s Account of Yuga-Decline and the Restoration Motif
Kali-yuga to Kalki
तत्र त॑ प्राक्षिपच्चापि मनु: परपुरंजय । अथावर्धत मत्स्य: स पुनर्वर्षमणान् बहून्ू,शत्रुविजयी युधिष्ठिर! मनुने उसे वहीं डाल दिया। अब वह मत्स्य अनेक वर्षोतक उसीमें क्रमश: बढ़ता रहा
tatra taṁ prākṣipac cāpi manuḥ parapuraṁjaya | athāvardhata matsyaḥ sa punar varṣamāṇān bahūn | śatravijayī yudhiṣṭhira! manunā sa tatraiva nikṣiptaḥ | atha sa matsyo ’nekavarṣāṇi tasmin eva krameṇa vavṛdhe ||
പരപുരഞ്ജയനായ യുധിഷ്ഠിരാ! മനു അവനെ അവിടെയേയ്ക്ക് തന്നെ ഇട്ടു; പിന്നെ ആ മത്സ്യം അനേകം വർഷങ്ങളോളം അവിടെയേയ്ക്ക് തന്നെ വർഷംതോറും ക്രമേണ വളർന്നു കൊണ്ടിരുന്നു।
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharmic attentiveness and compassionate responsibility: Manu does not dismiss a small, vulnerable being but shelters it, and through steady care over time the protected life grows. Ethically, it underscores that seemingly minor acts of protection can participate in a larger providential order.
Mārkaṇḍeya narrates to Yudhiṣṭhira that Manu places the fish into a suitable container/location, and the fish continues to grow gradually over many years—an early stage of the well-known Matsya-related flood narrative cycle.