Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 12, Shloka 36

Adhyaya 12 — The Son Describes the Narakas: Mahāraurava, Tamas, Nikṛntana, Apratiṣṭha, Asipatravana, and Taptakumbha

Sanskrit

क्वाथ्यन्ते विस्फुटद्गात्र-गलन्मज्जजलाविलाः ।

स्फुरत्कपालनेत्रास्थिच्छिद्यमाना विभीषणैः ॥

Transliteration

kvāthyante visphuṭadgātra-galanmajjajalāvilāḥ / sphuratkapālanetrāsthicchidyamānā vibhīṣaṇaiḥ

Translation

သူတို့ကို ပြုတ်ချက်ခံရသည်—ကိုယ်အင်္ဂါများ ပေါက်ကွဲကွာကျ၊ အရည်သည် အရိုးမြစ် (marrow) စိမ့်ယိုစီးဆင်းသဖြင့် မည်းညိုထူထပ်လာသည်—ထိုအချိန်တွင် ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် သတ္တဝါများက ခေါင်းခွံ၊ မျက်လုံး၊ အရိုးများ လက်လက်တောက်ပနေသည့်ကြား၌ သူတို့ကို ခုတ်ဖြတ်ကြသည်။

Word by Word

• kvāthyante: are boiled
• kvāthyante: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √kvath (धातु)
• Form: Laṭ-lakāra (लट्/present), Prathama-puruṣa (3rd person), Plural; Ātmanepada; passive sense ‘are boiled’

• visphuṭat-gātra-galat-majja-jala-avilāḥ: turbid with marrow-water flowing from burst limbs
• visphuṭat-gātra-galat-majja-jala-avilāḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: visphuṭat+gātra+galat+majjan+jala+avila (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural; multi-member तत्पुरुष: ‘turbid (avila) with marrow-water (majja-jala) flowing (galat) from bursting limbs (visphuṭat-gātra)’

• sphurat-kapāla-netra-asthi: quivering skulls, eyes, and bones
• sphurat-kapāla-netra-asthi: Karma (कर्म/object, as part of passive construction)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sphurat+kapāla+netra+asthi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter collective in compound; used as object-base for next participle; द्वन्द्व: kapāla+netra+asthi = ‘skulls, eyes, bones’ with qualifier sphurat ‘quivering/flashing’

• chidyamānāḥ: being cut apart
• chidyamānāḥ: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (क्रिया-विशेषण/predicative)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: √chid (धातु)
• Form: Present passive participle (शानच्/मान) ‘chidyamāna’; Masculine, Nominative, Plural; ‘being cut/torn’

• vibhīṣaṇaiḥ: by dreadful (agents/means)
• vibhīṣaṇaiḥ: Karaṇa (करण/instrument)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: vibhīṣaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Plural; ‘by terrible (means/beings)’

Speakers

• Pitā instructing Putra

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "secondaryRasa": "raudra", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Graphic naraka description
• Consequences of pāpa
• Fear as deterrent (bhaya-pradarśana)

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The extremity of imagery is pedagogical: it aims to shock the listener into ethical self-regulation and to affirm that embodied harm caused to others returns as embodied suffering.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Didactic material reinforcing dharma and karma-phala; not directly sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita.

What is the esoteric significance?

Boiling and disintegration symbolize the dissolution of the ‘constructed self’ under the pressure of one’s own actions; the skull-eye-bone motifs underscore mortality and the stripping away of pretenses.