Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 45, Shloka 34

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

Sanskrit

अनाद्यन्तं जगद्योनिं त्रिगुणप्रभवाप्ययम् ।

असाम्प्रतमविज्ञेयं ब्रह्माग्रे समवर्तत ॥

Transliteration

anādy-antaṃ jagad-yonim tri-guṇa-prabhavāpyayam |

asāmpratam avijñeyaṃ brahmāgre samavartata ||

Translation

အစမရှိ အဆုံးမရှိ၊ စကြဝဠာ၏ အရင်းအမြစ်—ဂုဏ်သုံးပါး၏ ပေါ်ပေါက်ခြင်းနှင့် ပျောက်ကွယ်ခြင်း၏ အခြေခံ—ထိုအချိန်၌ တိုက်ရိုက်မသိနိုင်ခဲ့ဘဲ၊ ဗြဟ္မာ မပေါ်မီကတည်းက ရှိနေ하였다။

Word by Word

• अनादि-अन्तम्: without beginning and end
• अनादि-अन्तम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अनादि (प्रातिपदिक) + अन्त (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास: ‘आदिश्च अन्तश्च यस्य न’ (without beginning and end)

• जगत्-योनिम्: the source of the world
• जगत्-योनिम्: कर्म/विशेष्य (Karma/Viśeṣya)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जगत् (प्रातिपदिक) + योनि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास: ‘जगतः योनि’ (source/womb of the world)

• त्रि-गुण-प्रभव-अप्ययम्: the origin and dissolution of the three guṇas
• त्रि-गुण-प्रभव-अप्ययम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: त्रि (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + गुण (प्रातिपदिक) + प्रभव (प्रातिपदिक) + अप्यय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; (प्रभव + अप्यय) इतरेतर-द्वन्द्व, पूर्वपदेन त्रिगुण-विशेषण: ‘त्रिगुणानां प्रभवश्च अप्ययश्च’ (origin and dissolution of the three guṇas)

• असाम्प्रतम्: not presently manifest
• असाम्प्रतम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: असाम्प्रत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘not present/ not of the current time’

• अविज्ञेयम्: unknowable
• अविज्ञेयम्: विशेषण (Viśeṣaṇa/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ज्ञा (धातु) → विज्ञेय (कृदन्त) with negation अ-
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; नञ्-पूर्वक क्तव्य/यत्-प्रत्ययान्त: ‘not knowable’

• ब्रह्म-अग्रे: before Brahmā / at the beginning
• ब्रह्म-अग्रे: अधिकरण (Adhikaraṇa/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ब्रह्मन् (प्रातिपदिक) + अग्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास: ‘ब्रह्मणः अग्रे’ = ‘before Brahmā/at the beginning (prior to Brahmā)’; used adverbially

• समवर्तत: was present/came to be
• समवर्तत: विधेय/क्रिया (Kriyā/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम् + वृत् (धातु)
• Form: लङ् (imperfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन; आत्मनेपद: ‘came into being/was present’

Speakers

• Narrator-speaker concluding the initial definition of the primordial cause

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Brahmā (as subsequent cosmic role, preceded by avyakta/prakṛti)

Key Themes

• Tri-guṇa doctrine
• Beginningless substrate
• Pre-Brahmā primordiality
• Limits of cognition

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The verse underlines epistemic humility: the deepest causal layer is not grasped by ordinary cognition, encouraging disciplined practice and restraint from premature certainty.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Sarga/Pratisarga: it locates the unmanifest source prior to the creator-function (Brahmā) and ties cosmic evolution to guṇa dynamics.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Before Brahmā’ can be read as prior to structured intellect/creator-mind: in inner terms, the guṇas’ play arises from a pre-conceptual ground that is ‘avijñeya’ until directly realized.