Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 17, Shloka 6

Adhyaya 17 — The Birth of Atri’s Three Sons: Soma, Dattatreya, and Durvasa

Sanskrit

तुष्टेन विष्णुना जज्ञे दत्तात्रेयो महात्मना ।

स्वशरीरात् समुत्पाद्य सत्त्वोद्रिक्तो द्विजात्तमः ॥

Transliteration

tuṣṭena viṣṇunā jajñe dattātreyo mahātmanā |

svaśarīrāt samutpādya sattvodrikto dvijāttamaḥ ||

Translation

မဟာအတ္တမရှိသော ဗိဿနုသည် နှစ်သက်တော်မူသဖြင့်၊ ဒတ္တာတြေယသည် မွေးဖွားလာ하였다—မိမိ၏ ကိုယ်ခန္ဓာမှပင် ထုတ်ပေါ်စေခြင်းဖြစ်၍—အထူးမြတ်သော ဒွိဇ၊ စတ္တဝဂုဏ် အလွန်ထင်ရှားသူဖြစ်하였다။

Word by Word

• तुष्टेन: by the pleased
• तुष्टेन: करण (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुष्ट (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, √तुष्)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (Instrumental/तृतीया), एकवचन; भूतकृदन्त (क्त) ‘pleased’—विष्णुना इत्यस्य विशेषणम्

• विष्णुना: by Viṣṇu
• विष्णुना: करण (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विष्णु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया, एकवचन

• जज्ञे: was born
• जज्ञे: क्रिया (Verb/आख्यात)
• Type: Verb
• Root: जन् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (Perfect), आत्मनेपद; प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन

• दत्तात्रेयः: Dattātreya
• दत्तात्रेयः: कर्ता (Karta/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दत्त (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, √दा ‘to give’ क्त) + अत्रेय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष/सम्बन्ध ‘अत्रेयेण दत्तः’/‘अत्रेः दत्तः’ (name)

• महात्मना: by the great-souled
• महात्मना: करण (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महात्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया, एकवचन; विशेषण—विष्णुना इत्यस्य

• स्वशरीरात्: from (his) own body
• स्वशरीरात्: अपादान (Ablative source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्व (प्रातिपदिक) + शरीर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग ‘शरीर’, पञ्चमी (Ablative/पञ्चमी), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष ‘स्वस्य शरीरात्’

• समुत्पाद्य: having produced
• समुत्पाद्य: पूर्वकाल-क्रिया (Absolutive/पूर्वक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-उत्-√पद्/√पाद् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्यय (Gerund/Absolutive), अव्ययभाव; ‘having produced/bringing forth’

• सत्त्व-उद्रिक्तः: abounding in sattva
• सत्त्व-उद्रिक्तः: कर्ता-विशेषण (Agent qualifier/कर्तृविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सत्त्व (प्रातिपदिक) + उद्रिक्त (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, √रिच्/√द्रिच् ‘to be abundant’ क्त)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष ‘सत्त्वेन उद्रिक्तः’ = predominated by sattva

• द्विजात्तमः: best of the twice-born (brāhmaṇas)
• द्विजात्तमः: कर्ता (Karta/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विज (प्रातिपदिक) + तम (प्रत्यय/प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष/उपपद-समास ‘द्विजानां उत्तमः’ (superlative)

Speakers

• Narrative voice (Purāṇic narrator within the Markandeya Purana’s ongoing discourse; not Devi Māhātmya)

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Viṣṇu
• Dattātreya

Key Themes

• Avatāra theology
• Guṇa theory (sattva)
• Sage-ideal
• Genealogy

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Divinity responds to devotion/merit (‘tuṣṭa’), yielding a teacher-figure marked by sattva—clarity, restraint, and wisdom. The verse frames spiritual authority as grounded in purity (sattva) rather than mere birth.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Vaṃśānucarita: narrative of notable persons in lineages; also touches on pratisarga-style divine manifestation (avatāra-like emergence).

What is the esoteric significance?

‘From his own body’ suggests non-duality of source and manifestation: the guru-principle (Dattātreya) emerges as an embodied condensation of Viṣṇu’s sattvic power.