Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 23, Shloka 43

Adhyaya 23 — Ashvatara’s Vow for Madalasa and the Bestowal of Musical Science by Sarasvati

Sanskrit

अनादिमध्यानिधनं सदसन्न सदेव यत् ।

एकान्त्वनेकं नाप्येकं भवभेदसमाश्रितम् ॥

Transliteration

anādimadhyanidhanaṃ sadasanna sadeva yat /

ekantvanekaṃ nāpyekaṃ bhavabhedasamāśraitam

Translation

အစမရှိ၊ အလယ်မရှိ၊ အဆုံးမရှိသောအရာ; ရှိခြင်းနှင့် မရှိခြင်း ဖြစ်သော်လည်း အမှန်တကယ် ရှိနေသောအရာ; တစ်လည်းဖြစ်၊ များလည်းဖြစ်၍ တစ်ခုတည်းသာ မဟုတ်သောအရာ—ပေါ်ထွန်းလာသော အတ္တိတည်ရှိမှု၏ ခွဲခြားချက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံ၍ တည်နေသည်။

Word by Word

• an-ādi-madhya-ni-dhanam: without beginning, middle, or end
• an-ādi-madhya-ni-dhanam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: an (नञ्) + ādi (प्रातिपदिक) + madhya (प्रातिपदिक) + ni (उपसर्ग) + dhana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समाहार-द्वन्द्वः (ādi+madhya+nidhana) with नञ्-पूर्वपद—‘आदि-मध्य-निधन-रहितम्’ (without beginning, middle, and end)

• sat: being; existent
• sat: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sat (प्रातिपदिक; from √as ‘to be’)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; here as part of paired expression ‘sat-asat’

• asat: non-being; non-existent
• asat: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asat (प्रातिपदिक; नञ् + sat)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; paired with sat

• na: not
• na: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-निपात (negative particle)

• sat: existent
• sat: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sat (प्रातिपदिक; from √as)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; with एव

• eva: indeed; just
• eva: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अवधारण-निपात (emphatic particle)

• yat: that which
• yat: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; यद्-शब्दः (relative pronoun) referring to the described Brahman/Principle

• ekam: one
• ekam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: eka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• tu: but; and yet
• tu: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu (अव्यय)
• Form: विरोध/अन्वय-निपात (adversative/contrast particle)

• anekam: many; not-one
• anekam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: aneka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• na: not
• na: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-निपात

• api: even; also
• api: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: api (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय/अपि-निपात (also/even)

• ekam: one
• ekam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: eka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• bhava-bheda-samāśritam: associated with distinctions of existence/becoming
• bhava-bheda-samāśritam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: bhava (प्रातिपदिक) + bheda (प्रातिपदिक) + sam-ā-śrita (कृदन्त; √śri with उपसर्ग sam+ā)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; ‘समाश्रित’ = past passive participle (क्त) of sam-ā-√śri (श्रि) ‘to resort to’; तत्पुरुषः—‘भवभेदं समाश्रितम्’ (resting on/associated with distinctions of becoming)

Speakers

• Aśvatara (Nāga) praising Devī/Sarasvatī

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Sarasvatī
• Devī

Shakti Aspects

• Devī as Nirguṇa and Saguṇa simultaneously

Key Themes

• Advaita and plurality
• Cosmology (manifestation)
• Apophatic theology
• Shaktism

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Reality cannot be reduced to a simple category: the Goddess is beyond binary oppositions (sat/asat, one/many). Ethically, it encourages humility in metaphysical claims and devotion that transcends rigid conceptual frames.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

It is theological-metaphysical teaching embedded in narrative (not a direct sarga/pratisarga account), yet it undergirds cosmology by defining the Absolute from which creation and dissolution proceed.

What is the esoteric significance?

The paradox points to non-conceptual realization: Devī is the substratum where opposites reconcile; ‘differences of bhava’ arise in her power, not outside her.