Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 10, Shloka 16

Adhyaya 10 — Jaimini’s Questions on Birth, Death, Karma, and the Embodied Journey

Sanskrit

जन्मनामयुतं साग्रं मम स्मृतिपथं गतम् ।

निर्वेदाः परितोषाश्च क्षयवृद्ध्युदये गताः ॥

Transliteration

janmanām ayutaṃ sāgraṃ mama smṛtipathaṃ gatam | nirvedāḥ paritoṣāś ca kṣaya-vृद्धy-udaye gatāḥ ||

Translation

ဘဝပေါင်း တစ်သောင်းကျော်သည် ကျွန်ုပ်၏ မှတ်ဉာဏ်အတွင်းသို့ ရောက်ရှိလာခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်သည်။ ပျက်စီးခြင်း၊ တိုးပွားခြင်းနှင့် ပြည့်စုံခြင်းတို့မှတဆင့် ငြီးငွေ့ခြင်းနှင့် ကျေနပ်မှုတို့သည် အဖန်ဖန် ဖြစ်ပေါ်ခဲ့ရသည်။

Word by Word

• जन्म: births
• जन्म: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जन्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (neuter, nominative/accusative singular); समाहारार्थे (collective sense)

• नाम: names
• नाम: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नामन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (neuter, nominative/accusative singular); समाहारार्थे

• अयुतम्: ten-thousand (countless)
• अयुतम्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अयुत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (neuter nom/acc sg); संख्याविशेषण (numeral adjective)

• साग्रम्: with excess, more than (that)
• साग्रम्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: साग्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (neuter nom/acc sg); विशेषण (qualifier)

• मम: of me, my
• मम: Shashthi-sambandha (षष्ठी-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी, एकवचन (genitive singular); सर्वनाम (pronoun)

• स्मृतिपथम्: the path/field of memory
• स्मृतिपथम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्मृति (प्रातिपदिक) + पथ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (षष्ठी/सप्तमी-सम्बन्धार्थः: स्मृतेः पथः); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन (accusative singular)

• गतम्: gone/come (to)
• गतम्: Karma-samānādhikaraṇa (कर्म-समानाधिकरण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; (gone/come to)

• निर्वेदाः: dispassions, wearinesses
• निर्वेदाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: निर्वेद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन (masculine nominative plural)

• परितोषाः: contentments, satisfactions
• परितोषाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: परितोष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन (masculine nominative plural)

• च: and
• च: Samuccaya (समुच्चय)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चयबोधक-अव्यय (conjunction)

• क्षयवृद्ध्युदये: in decline, growth, and rise
• क्षयवृद्ध्युदये: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय (प्रातिपदिक) + वृद्धि (प्रातिपदिक) + उदय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: इतरेतर-द्वन्द्व-समास (क्षयश्च वृद्धिश्च उदयश्च); पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन (locative singular; as a collective dvandva)

• गताः: have gone/occurred
• गताः: Karta-samānādhikaraṇa (कर्ता-समानाधिकरण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; (having gone/entered)

Speakers

• Son (within the embedded story); reported by the birds

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Saṃsāra
• Recollection of past lives
• Vairāgya
• Impermanence
• Cycles of fortune

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Worldly states alternate endlessly—gain and loss, joy and weariness. Recognizing the repetitive pattern is meant to generate detachment and redirect effort toward liberation rather than status-management.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Not pancalakṣaṇa proper; it is mokṣa-oriented teaching within an ākhyāna, using the doctrine of repeated births (a common purāṇic-philosophical premise).

What is the esoteric significance?

Memory across births symbolizes awakened continuity of consciousness: when the ‘thread’ (sūtra) is seen, the alternating experiences lose their power to bind.