Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 46, Shloka 25

Adhyaya 46 — Cosmic Dissolution, the Emergence of Brahma, and the Measures of Time (Yugas, Manvantaras, and Brahma’s Day)

Sanskrit

तैः षड्भिरयनं वर्षं द्वेऽयने दक्षिणोत्तरे ।

तद्देवाना्महोरात्रं दिनं तत्रोत्तरायणम् ॥

Transliteration

taiḥ ṣaḍbhir ayanaṃ varṣaṃ dve ’yane dakṣiṇottare | tad devānām ahorātraṃ dinaṃ tatrôttarāyaṇam ||

Translation

ခြောက်လဖြင့် အယန (ayana) တစ်ခု ဖြစ်သည်။ နှစ်တစ်နှစ်တွင် အယန နှစ်ခု—တောင်ဘက်နှင့် မြောက်ဘက်—ပါဝင်သည်။ ထိုနှစ်သည် ဒေဝတားတို့၏ နေ့နှင့်ည ဖြစ်ပြီး၊ မြောက်ဘက်သို့ သွားရာက သူတို့၏ နေ့၊ တောင်ဘက်သို့ သွားရာက သူတို့၏ ည ဖြစ်သည်။

Word by Word

• तैः: by those (i.e., months)
• तैः: करण (Karaṇa/Instrument)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तृतीया-विभक्ति (Instrumental), बहुवचन

• षड्भिः: by six
• षड्भिः: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: षष् (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तृतीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; संख्याविशेषण

• अयनम्: an ayana (half-year)
• अयनम्: कर्ता (Karta/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अयन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• वर्षम्: a year
• वर्षम्: कर्म (Karma/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• द्वे: two
• द्वे: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वि (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, द्विवचन; संख्याविशेषण

• अयने: two ayanas
• अयने: कर्ता (Karta/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अयन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, द्विवचन

• दक्षिण-उत्तरे: southern and northern
• दक्षिण-उत्तरे: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दक्षिण (प्रातिपदिक) + उत्तर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, द्विवचन; द्वन्द्व (as names of the two ayanas)

• तत्: that
• तत्: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषण (referring to following)

• देवानाम्: of the gods
• देवानाम्: सम्बन्ध (Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति, बहुवचन

• अहोरात्रम्: day-and-night
• अहोरात्रम्: कर्ता (Karta/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अहोरात्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; द्वन्द्व

• दिनम्: day
• दिनम्: प्रथमा-सम्बन्ध (Predicative/identifier)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दिन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• तत्र: there/in that context
• तत्र: अधिकरण (Adhikaraṇa/Locative sense)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb of place/ संदर्भ)

• उत्तरायणम्: the northern course (uttarāyaṇa)
• उत्तरायणम्: प्रथमा-सम्बन्ध (Predicative/identifier)
• Type: Noun
• Root: उत्तर (प्रातिपदिक) + अयन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (उत्तरस्य अयनम्)

Speakers

• Didactic narrator; standard Purāṇic mapping of human and divine time.

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Devas (collective)

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Divine time
• Uttarāyaṇa/Dakṣiṇāyana

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Perspective transforms reality: what is a year to humans is a day to devas—prompting detachment from short-term anxieties and steadiness in dharma.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Cosmic time framework that underlies manvantara lengths and yuga computations used in vaṃśa histories.

What is the esoteric significance?

Uttarāyaṇa as ‘day’ symbolizes ascent/illumination; dakṣiṇāyana as ‘night’ symbolizes withdrawal—mirroring yogic expansion and contraction.