Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 29, Shloka 35

Adhyaya 29 — Alarka’s Inquiry and Madalasa’s Teaching on Householder Dharma (Gārhasthya), Vaiśvadeva, and Atithi Hospitality

Sanskrit

भिक्षाञ्च याचतां दद्यāt परिव्राड्ब्रह्मचारिणाम् ।

ग्रासप्रमाणा भिक्षा स्यादग्रं ग्रासचतुष्टयम् ॥

Transliteration

bhikṣāṃ ca yācatāṃ dadyāt parivrāḍbrahmacāriṇām / grāsapramāṇā bhikṣā syād agraṃ grāsacatuṣṭayam

Translation

တောင်းခံလာသူများ—လှည့်လည်သွားလာသော သမဏ/ဘိက္ခုဆန်ဆန် တပသီများနှင့် ဗြဟ္မစာရင် (brahmacārin) များ—ထံသို့ ဒါနပေးရမည်။ ဒါနကို “အလုတ်” အဖြစ် တိုင်းတာရပြီး “ပထမပိုင်း” သည် အလုတ်လေးလုတ်ဟု ဆိုကြသည်။

Word by Word

• भिक्षाम्: alms
• भिक्षाम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भिक्षा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/समुच्चय)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• याचताम्: of the beggars
• याचताम्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √याच् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्यय (present active participle) ‘याचत्’ + षष्ठी-बहुवचन; ‘of those who beg’

• दद्यात्: should give
• दद्यात्: Vidhi-kriyā (विधिक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √दा (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन

• परिव्राट्: of wandering ascetics
• परिव्राट्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: परिव्राट् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति, बहुवचन (परिव्राज्/परिव्राट्-सम्बन्ध); ‘of wandering mendicants’

• ब्रह्मचारिणाम्: of brahmacārins (students)
• ब्रह्मचारिणाम्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्मचारिन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति, बहुवचन

• ग्रासप्रमाणा: measured by a mouthful
• ग्रासप्रमाणा: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ग्रास-प्रमाण (प्रातिपदिक; घटक: ग्रास + प्रमाण)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण (भिक्षा-विशेषण)

• भिक्षा: alms
• भिक्षा: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भिक्षा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• स्यात्: should be
• स्यात्: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √अस् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन

• अग्रं: the first portion
• अग्रं: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अग्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• ग्रासचतुष्टयम्: a set of four mouthfuls
• ग्रासचतुष्टयम्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ग्रास-चतुष्टय (प्रातिपदिक; घटक: ग्रास + चतुष्टय)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; ‘four mouthfuls’ (समाहार)

Speakers

• Dharma-instruction voice within the Markandeya Purana’s didactic section

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "dharma", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Dharma
• Dāna
• Bhikṣā
• Support of renunciants
• Householder obligations

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

A stable society depends on reciprocal support: householders sustain students and renunciants; alms are to be tangible and properly portioned, not merely symbolic.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Dharma-ācāra content; not a cosmological or dynastic unit.

What is the esoteric significance?

Measuring alms as ‘morsels’ disciplines both giver and receiver—training moderation, humility, and non-attachment around food.