Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 31, Shloka 24

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

Sanskrit

दौहित्रृत्विग्जामातृस्वस्त्रीयाः श्वशुरस्तथा ।

पञ्चाग्निकर्मनिष्ठश्च तपोनिष्ठो 'थ मातुलः ॥

Transliteration

dauhitra-ṛtvij-jāmātṛ-svastrīyāḥ śvaśuras tathā /

pañcāgni-karma-niṣṭhaś ca tapo-niṣṭho 'tha mātulaḥ

Translation

ထို့အပြင် သမီး၏သား (သမီးသား), အခမ်းအနားဆောင်ရွက်သော ပုရောဟိတ်, သားမက်, အစ်မ/ညီမ၏သား, ထို့တူပင် ယောက္ခမ (ဖခင်ယောက္ခမ) လည်း သင့်တော်သည်။ ပဉ္စာဂ္နိ (pañcāgni) ဝရတကို လိုက်နာသူ၊ တပဿ (အာစတေရ) ကို အလေးထားသူ၊ နှင့် မိခင်ဘက် ဦးလေးလည်း ပါဝင်သည်။

Word by Word

• दौहित्रः: daughter’s son (grandson through daughter)
• दौहित्रः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dauhitra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• ऋत्विक्: officiating priest
• ऋत्विक्: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ṛtvij (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; पदान्त-व्यञ्जन (ज्) रूप ‘ऋत्विक्’

• जामातृः: son-in-law
• जामातृः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jāmātṛ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• स्वस्त्रीयाः: sister’s sons / sister’s relatives
• स्वस्त्रीयाः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svastrīya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; ‘स्वसृ-सम्बन्धी’ (sister’s son/related)

• श्वशुरः: father-in-law
• श्वशुरः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śvaśura (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• तथा: and also, likewise
• तथा: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अव्यय-प्रकारः: समुच्चय/अन्वयार्थक (also, likewise)

• पञ्चाग्निकर्मनिष्ठः: devoted to the pañcāgni rite
• पञ्चाग्निकर्मनिष्ठः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pañca-agni-karma-niṣṭha (प्रातिपदिक; पञ्च + अग्नि + कर्म + निष्ठ)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; बहुपद-तत्पुरुषः ‘पञ्चाग्निकर्मणि निष्ठा यस्य’ (devoted to the pañcāgni rite)

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयबोधक (conjunction)

• तपोनिष्ठः: steadfast in austerity
• तपोनिष्ठः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tapas-niṣṭha (प्रातिपदिक; तपस् + निष्ठ)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; तत्पुरुषः ‘तपसि निष्ठा यस्य’

• अथ: then, further
• अथ: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: atha (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अनुक्रम/प्रस्तावार्थक (then/now/and further)

• मातुलः: maternal uncle
• मातुलः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mātula (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

Speakers

• Not specified in provided excerpt

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Pitṛs
• Agni (implied by pañcāgni)

Key Themes

• Dharma
• Śrāddha invitees
• Kinship roles
• Ascetic qualifications

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Śrāddha weaves together spiritual merit and social bonds: kin and ritual specialists form a dharmic network that sustains lineage, reciprocity, and sacred continuity.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Ācāra and social-dharma material; not pancalakṣaṇa.

What is the esoteric significance?

The inclusion of specific relatives reflects the subtle ‘channels’ of lineage-energy (vaṃśa-pravāha). Ascetic observances (pañcāgni, tapas) indicate heightened inner ‘fire’ that is believed to carry offerings beyond the visible realm.