Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 26, Shloka 30

Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty

Sanskrit

सपुण्यानसपुण्यांश्च क्षुत्क्षामान् तृट्परिप्लुतान् ।

पिण्डोदकप्रदानेन नरः कर्मण्यवस्थितः ॥

Transliteration

sapuṇyān asapuṇyāṃś ca kṣut-kṣāmān tṛṭ-pariplutān / piṇḍodaka-pradānena naraḥ karmaṇy avasthitaḥ //

Translation

«ကောင်းမှုရှိသည်ဖြစ်စေ မရှိသည်ဖြစ်စေ၊ ဆာလောင်၍ အားနည်းနေသည်ဖြစ်စေ ရေငတ်၍ ဒုက္ခရောက်သည်ဖြစ်စေ—ဆန်လုံး (piṇḍa) နှင့် ရေကို ပေးလှူခြင်းအားဖြင့်၊ ဓမ္မ၌ တည်သူသည် သူတို့ကို ထောက်ပံ့စောင့်ရှောက်၏»

Word by Word

• स-पुण्यान्: the meritorious (with merit)
• स-पुण्यान्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पुण्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (Accusative), बहुवचन; उपसर्गसदृश ‘स-’ = ‘with’

• अ-सपुण्यान्: the non-meritorious (without merit)
• अ-सपुण्यान्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सपुण्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन; नञ्-समास/निषेध-पूर्वपद ‘अ-’ = ‘without’

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

• क्षुत्-क्षामान्: emaciated by hunger
• क्षुत्-क्षामान्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षुत् (प्रातिपदिक) + क्षाम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन; समास: कर्मधारय (क्षुत्या क्षामाः = emaciated by hunger)

• तृट्-परिप्लुतान्: overwhelmed by thirst
• तृट्-परिप्लुतान्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तृट् (प्रातिपदिक) + परि + प्लु (धातु) → परिप्लुत (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन; समास: तत्पुरुष (तृष्णया/तृटा परिप्लुताः = overwhelmed by thirst)

• पिण्ड-उदक-प्रदानेन: by the offering of rice-balls and water
• पिण्ड-उदक-प्रदानेन: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पिण्ड (प्रातिपदिक) + उदक (प्रातिपदिक) + प्रदान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया (Instrumental), एकवचन; समास: इतरेतर-द्वन्द्व (पिण्ड + उदक) + तत्पुरुष (तयोः प्रदानम्)

• नरः: a man
• नरः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (Nominative), एकवचन

• कर्मणि: in duty/ritual action
• कर्मणि: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (Locative), एकवचन

• अवस्थितः: is established/engaged
• अवस्थितः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अव + स्था (धातु)
• Form: कृदन्त: क्त (past participle), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; अर्थ: ‘standing/remaining engaged’

Speakers

• Jaḍa to Madālasā

Key Themes

• Pitṛ Puja
• Śrāddha efficacy
• Compassionate duty
• Karmic responsibility

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Ritual giving is presented as humanitarian across moral status: one’s duty is to support the departed without judging their merit. Dharma functions as care, not merely reward.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Dharma-upadeśa embedded in narrative (Anucarita).

What is the esoteric significance?

Hunger and thirst signify subtle deprivation in post-mortem states; piṇḍa and udaka become archetypes of ‘form’ and ‘life-fluid’ offered back into the ancestral stream, restoring balance.