Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 19, Shloka 14

Adhyaya 19 — Kartavirya Arjuna at Dattatreya’s Ashram: Boons, Sovereignty, and Vaishnava Praise

Sanskrit

कार्तवीर्य उवाच यदि देव प्रसन्नस्त्वं तत् प्रयच्छ ऋद्धिमुत्तमाम् ।

यया प्रजाः पालयेऽहं न चाधर्ममवाप्नुयाम् ॥

Transliteration

kārtavīrya uvāca yadi deva prasannas tvaṃ tat prayaccha ṛddhim uttamām /

yayā prajāḥ pālaye 'haṃ na cādharmam avāpnuyām

Translation

ကာတ္တဝီရျ (Kārtavīrya) က ပြောသည်—အရှင်ဘုရား၊ သင်သည် ပျော်ရွှင်နှစ်သက်တော်မူလျှင်၊ ကျွန်ုပ်အား အမြင့်ဆုံးသော စည်းစိမ်/အာဏာကို ချီးမြှင့်တော်မူပါ။ ထိုအာဏာဖြင့် ကျွန်ုပ်သည် ပြည်သူတို့ကို ကာကွယ်နိုင်ပြီး အဓမ္မသို့ မကျရောက်စေရန် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။

Word by Word

• kārtavīryaḥ: Kārtavīrya
• kārtavīryaḥ: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kārtavīrya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• uvāca: said
• uvāca: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vac (धातु)
• Form: Liṭ (लिट्/Perfect), Parasmaipada, 3rd person, Singular

• yadi: if
• yadi: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/condition)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yadi (अव्यय)
• Form: Conditional particle (शर्त/निबन्धन)

• deva: O god
• deva: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन/Address)
• Type: Noun
• Root: deva (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Vocative (8th/सम्बोधन), Singular

• prasannaḥ: pleased
• prasannaḥ: Karta-samānādhikaraṇa (कर्तृसमानााधिकरण/predicate)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: prasanna (प्रातिपदिक/कृदन्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular; predicate adjective

• tvam: you
• tvam: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yusmad (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: Nominative, Singular

• tat: then
• tat: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: Particle/pronominal adverb (तत्) meaning 'then/therefore'

• prayaccha: grant
• prayaccha: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pra-√yam (धातु)
• Form: Loṭ (लोट्/Imperative), Parasmaipada, 2nd person, Singular

• ṛddhim: prosperity/success
• ṛddhim: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ṛddhi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular

• uttamām: excellent
• uttamām: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: uttama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular; agreeing with ṛddhim

• yayā: by which
• yayā: Karana (करण/Instrument)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Singular; relative pronoun referring to ṛddhi

• prajāḥ: subjects/people
• prajāḥ: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: prajā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Plural

• pālaye: may I protect
• pālaye: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pāl (धातु)
• Form: Liṅ (लिङ्/Optative), Parasmaipada, 1st person, Singular

• aham: I
• aham: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: Nominative, Singular

• na: not
• na: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/negation)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: Negation particle (निषेध)

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Conjunction (समुच्चय)

• adharmam: unrighteousness
• adharmam: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: adharma (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular

• avāpnuyām: may I incur/attain
• avāpnuyām: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ava-√āp (धातु)
• Form: Liṅ (लिङ्/Optative), Parasmaipada, 1st person, Singular

Speakers

• Kārtavīrya speaking (to Dattātreya)

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Dattātreya
• Kārtavīrya Arjuna

Key Themes

• Rājadharma
• Just governance
• Power with restraint
• Welfare of subjects

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The ideal king seeks power as an instrument of protection (prajā-pālana), explicitly subordinated to dharma; legitimacy comes from righteous intent and accountability to moral order.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Carita/Vamśānucarita: it establishes the ethical premise for a ruler’s extraordinary capacities within the genealogical-royal narrative stream.

What is the esoteric significance?

The prayer encodes the tension between śakti (capacity) and niyama (restraint): true ‘ṛddhi’ is power that does not corrupt the bearer into adharma.