Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 45, Shloka 32

Adhyaya 45 — Jaimini’s Cosmological Questions and the Opening of Markandeya’s Account of Primary Creation

Sanskrit

प्रधानं कारणं यत्तदव्यक्ताख्यं महर्षयः ।

यदाहुः प्रकृतिं सूक्ष्मां नित्यां सदसदात्मिकाम् ॥

Transliteration

pradhānaṃ kāraṇaṃ yat tad avyakta-ākhyaṃ maharṣayaḥ |

yad āhuḥ prakṛtiṃ sūkṣmāṃ nityāṃ sad-asad-ātmikām ||

Translation

«ပရဓာန» ဟု ခေါ်သော အကြောင်းကိန်း—«အဗျက္တ» (မပေါ်လွင်သေးသော) ဟုလည်း အမည်ရ—ကို မဟာရိရှီတို့က «ပရကృతి» ဟု ဖော်ညွှန်းကြသည်။ ၎င်းသည် နူးညံ့သိမ်မွေ့၍ အနန္တကာလတည်မြဲကာ ရှိခြင်းနှင့် မရှိခြင်း နှစ်မျိုးသဘောပါဝင်သည်။

Word by Word

• प्रधानम्: Pradhāna (the primordial principle)
• प्रधानम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रधान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• कारणम्: cause
• कारणम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कारण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; apposition to प्रधानम्

• यत्: which
• यत्: सम्बन्ध (Sambandha/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; relative pronoun

• तत्: that
• तत्: सम्बन्ध (Sambandha/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; correlative pronoun

• अव्यक्त-आख्यम्: called ‘Unmanifest’
• अव्यक्त-आख्यम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अव्यक्त (प्रातिपदिक) + आख्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास: ‘अव्यक्तम् आख्या यस्य/यत्’ = ‘called Unmanifest’

• महर्षयः: the great sages
• महर्षयः: कर्ता (Kartā/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महर्षि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन

• यत्: which (that)
• यत्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; object of ‘āhuḥ’ (understood: ‘that which’)

• आहुः: they have said/call
• आहुः: विधेय/क्रिया (Kriyā/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अह् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), बहुवचन; परस्मैपद

• प्रकृतिम्: Prakṛti (Nature)
• प्रकृतिम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रकृति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; in apposition/explanation of pradhāna

• सूक्ष्माम्: subtle
• सूक्ष्माम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सूक्ष्म (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; agrees with प्रकृतिम्

• नित्याम्: eternal
• नित्याम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नित्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; agrees with प्रकृतिम्

• सत्-असत्-आत्मिकाम्: having the nature of being and non-being
• सत्-असत्-आत्मिकाम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सत् (प्रातिपदिक) + असत् (प्रातिपदिक) + आत्मिका (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास (षष्ठी/कर्मधारय-प्राय): ‘सदसत् आत्मा/स्वभावः यस्याः’

Speakers

• Narrator-speaker presenting Sāṅkhya terminology as received from sages

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Prakṛti
• Avyakta
• Pradhāna
• Causality
• Sāṅkhya metaphysics

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The world’s diversity is traced to a subtle causal matrix (Prakṛti), encouraging the seeker to look beyond surface phenomena to underlying causes—supporting patience, non-reactivity, and deeper inquiry.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Sarga/Pratisarga: explicit statement of the primordial cause (prakṛti/avyakta) from which subsequent evolutes proceed.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Sad-asad-ātmikā’ implies Prakṛti straddles manifest and unmanifest: it is the threshold where potential becomes appearance, mirroring how latent impressions (saṃskāras) become thoughts and experiences.