Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 31, Shloka 12

Adhyaya 31 — Naimittika and Related Śrāddha Rites: Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, Eligibility, Timing, and Procedure

Sanskrit

ये वादग्धाः कुले बालाः क्रियायोग्या ह्यसंस्कृताः ।

विपन्नास्तेऽन्नविकिरसंमार्जनजलाशिनः ॥

Transliteration

ye vādagdhāḥ kule bālāḥ kriyāyogyā hy asaṃskṛtāḥ / vipannās te 'nnavikira-sammārjana-jalāśinaḥ

Translation

ထို့ပြင် မိသားစုအတွင်း အရွယ်မတိုင်မီ သေဆုံးသွားသော ကလေးများသည်—အခမ်းအနားများအတွက် သင့်တော်သော်လည်း သံစကာရ (saṃskāra) မခံယူဘဲ/အစပြုအခမ်းအနားမရရှိဘဲ ကျန်ခဲ့သူများ—ထိုကွယ်လွန်သူတို့သည် ဖြန့်ကျဲထားသော အစာကို လှည်းသုတ်သန့်စင်ရာတွင် သုံးသော ရေကို စားသောက်ကာ အာဟာရယူကြသည်။

Word by Word

• ye: those who
• ye: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); relative pronoun

• vā-dagdhāḥ: burnt (or scorched)
• vā-dagdhāḥ: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: vā (अव्यय) + √dah (दह् धातु)
• Form: Past passive participle (क्त/कृत्) of √dah, Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); with particle vā = 'either/indeed'

• kule: in the family
• kule: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kula (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन)

• bālāḥ: children
• bālāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन)

• kriyā-yogyāḥ: fit for ritual acts
• kriyā-yogyāḥ: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: kriyā (प्रातिपदिक) + yogya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); तत्पुरुषः (क्रियायाः योग्याः = fit for rites)

• hi: indeed
• hi: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: hi (अव्यय)
• Form: Particle (निपात), emphatic/causal

• asaṃskṛtāḥ: unpurified/without rites
• asaṃskṛtāḥ: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: a-saṃskṛta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); privative a-

• vipannāḥ: perished/ill-fated
• vipannāḥ: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: vi-√pad (पद् धातु)
• Form: Past active participle (क्त/कृत्), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन)

• te: they
• te: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); demonstrative pronoun

• anna-vikira-saṃmārjana-jala-āśinaḥ: eaters (drinkers) of the water used to sweep scattered food
• anna-vikira-saṃmārjana-jala-āśinaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: anna (प्रातिपदिक) + vikira (प्रातिपदिक) + saṃmārjana (प्रातिपदिक) + jala (प्रातिपदिक) + āśin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural (बहुवचन); बहुपद-तत्पुरुषसमासः: (अन्नविकिरस्य संमार्जनस्य जलम्) तद् आशीनाḥ = those who eat/drink the water of sweeping up scattered food

Speakers

• Not specified in input

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Dharma
• Śrāddha
• Saṃskāra importance
• Care for deceased children
• Ritual purity and remnants

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The verse stresses the gravity of saṃskāras and funeral/ancestral rites; when these are lacking, the departed are imagined as sustained only by minimal, residual offerings—prompting the living to perform rites conscientiously.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Ācāra/Dharma instruction; it intersects with vaṃśānucarita (lineage concerns) by addressing the fate of family members without rites.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Sweep-water’ symbolizes the thinnest form of sustenance—an image of liminality for souls lacking ritual completion, indicating how saṃskāra is seen as a vehicle for fuller participation in ancestral economy.