किं तु ते कारणं तात वक्ष्यामि नृपसत्तम । समुद्राः सरितः सर्वाः कल्पे कल्पे क्षयं गताः
kiṃ tu te kāraṇaṃ tāta vakṣyāmi nṛpasattama | samudrāḥ saritaḥ sarvāḥ kalpe kalpe kṣayaṃ gatāḥ
परंतु हे तात, हे नृपश्रेष्ठा, याचे कारण मी तुला सांगतो। प्रत्येक कल्पात सर्व समुद्र व सर्व नद्या प्रलयास प्राप्त होतात.
Mārkaṇḍeya
Tirtha: Revā/Narmadā (implied by context)
Type: river
Listener: Yudhiṣṭhira
Scene: A sage instructs a king while the background shows symbolic pralaya: oceans withdrawing, rivers fading into mist, the wheel of time turning above.
Purāṇic sacred geography is grounded in cosmology: even holy features dissolve across kalpas, setting up a special exception.
The verse introduces the unique, enduring greatness of Revā (Narmadā) in contrast to other rivers.
None; it provides theological-cosmological reasoning for Narmadā’s exceptional status.