Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 18, Shloka 4

Adhyaya 18 — Arjuna Declines the Throne; Garga Directs Him to Dattatreya; The Gods Defeat the Daityas through Dattatreya’s Vision and the Movement of Lakshmi

Sanskrit

दत्त्वार्थरक्षिभिर्मार्गे रक्षितो याति दस्युतः ।

गोपाश्च घृततक्रादेः षड्भागञ्च कृषीबलाः ॥

Transliteration

dattvārtharakṣibhir mārge rakṣito yāti dasyutaḥ /

gopāś ca ghṛtatakrādeḥ ṣaḍbhāgaṃ ca kṛṣībalāḥ

Translation

ပေးဆောင်ပြီးနောက် လူတို့သည် ပစ္စည်းဥစ္စာကို ကာကွယ်သော အစောင့်များရှိသဖြင့် လမ်းပေါ်တွင် ခိုးသားမရှိဘဲ သွားလာနိုင်သည်။ နွားကျောင်းသူတို့သည် ဂီ (ghee)၊ နို့ချဉ်ရည်နှင့် ထိုကဲ့သို့သောအရာများမှ အခွန်အပိုင်းကို ပေးကြသည်။ လယ်သမားတို့သည် ခြောက်ပုံတစ်ပုံကို ပေးကြသည်။

Word by Word

• दत्त्वा: having given
• दत्त्वा: Purvakala-kriya (पूर्वकालक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: दा (धातु)
• Form: Absolutive/Gerund (क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्ययकृदन्त)

• अर्थ-रक्षिभिः: by the protectors/guards of property
• अर्थ-रक्षिभिः: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अर्थ (प्रातिपदिक) + रक्षिन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Plural; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (अर्थस्य रक्षिणः)

• मार्गे: on the road
• मार्गे: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मार्ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular

• रक्षितः: protected/guarded
• रक्षितः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: रक्ष् (धातु)
• Form: Past passive participle (भूतकर्मणि कृदन्त/क्त), Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• याति: goes/travels
• याति: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: या (धातु)
• Form: Present tense (लट्), Parasmaipada, 3rd person (प्रथमपुरुष), Singular (एकवचन)

• दस्युतः: from robbers/bandits
• दस्युतः: Apadana (अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दस्यु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular

• गोपाः: cowherds
• गोपाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गोपा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural

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

• घृत-तक्र-आदेः: of ghee, buttermilk, etc.
• घृत-तक्र-आदेः: Shashthi-sambandha (षष्ठी-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: घृत (प्रातिपदिक) + तक्र (प्रातिपदिक) + आदि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular; द्वन्द्व-समाहार with आदि (ghṛta-takra etc.)

• षट्-भागम्: a sixth share
• षट्-भागम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: षट् (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + भाग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular; द्विगु-समास (षड्भागः = one-sixth share)

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

• कृषि-बलाः: farm-labourers/agricultural workers
• कृषि-बलाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कृषि (प्रातिपदिक) + बल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (कृषेः बलाः)

Speakers

• Narrative speech on fiscal norms

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Public security
• Tax shares
• Protection duty
• Economic order

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The king’s levy is framed as a wage for protection. When protection is real (safe roads, reduced banditry), taxation becomes morally intelligible.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Rājadharma embedded within vaṃśānucarita; it provides normative details about shares (bhāga) typical of dharma discourse in Purāṇas.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Safe passage’ symbolizes the dharmic function of authority: to reduce fear (bhaya) in society; fearlessness is treated as a tangible fruit of righteous rule.