Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 46, Shloka 26

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

Sanskrit

दिव्यैर्वर्षसहस्रैस्तु कृतत्रेतादिसंज्ञितम् ।

चतुर्युगं द्वादशभिस्तद्विभागं शृणुष्व मे ॥

Transliteration

divyair varṣasahasrais tu kṛtatretādisaṃjñitam | caturyugaṃ dvādaśabhis tad vibhāgaṃ śṛṇuṣva me ||

Translation

ကృత (Kṛta) နှင့် တ్రေတா (Tretā) တို့မှ စတင်သော ယုဂ (yuga) များကို ဒေဝတားနှစ် ထောင်ပေါင်းများဖြင့် သတ်မှတ်ကြသည်။ စတုရ်ယုဂ (caturyuga) ကို ဒေဝတားနှစ် တစ်သောင်းနှစ်ထောင်ဟု ရေတွက်ကြသည်။ ၎င်း၏ ခွဲခြားချက်များကို ငါထံမှ နားထောင်လော့။

Word by Word

• दिव्यैः: divine
• दिव्यैः: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दिव्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग/पुल्लिङ्ग, तृतीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; विशेषण (of varṣasahasraiḥ)

• वर्ष-सहस्रैः: by thousands of years
• वर्ष-सहस्रैः: करण (Karaṇa/Instrument)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ष (प्रातिपदिक) + सहस्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; तत्पुरुष (वर्षाणां सहस्रैः)

• तु: indeed
• तु: सम्बन्ध (Discourse particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)
• Form: निपात (particle)

• कृत-त्रेता-आदि-संज्ञितम्: named as Kṛta, Tretā, etc.
• कृत-त्रेता-आदि-संज्ञितम्: विशेषण (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कृत (प्रातिपदिक) + त्रेता (प्रातिपदिक) + आदि (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक) + संज्ञित (√ज्ञा + क्त, कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त ‘संज्ञित’ (named); समासः—तत्पुरुष (कृतत्रेतादिभिः संज्ञितम् = ‘named as Kṛta, Tretā, etc.’)

• चतुर्युगम्: a set of four yugas
• चतुर्युगम्: कर्म (Karma/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: चतुर् (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + युग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (चतुर्णां युगानां समाहारः)

• द्वादशभिः: by twelve
• द्वादशभिः: करण (Karaṇa/Instrument)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वादशन् (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तृतीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; संख्याविशेषण

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

• विभागम्: division/partition
• विभागम्: कर्म (Karma/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विभाग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (Accusative), एकवचन

• शृणुष्व: listen
• शृणुष्व: क्रिया (Verb/Action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √श्रु (धातु)
• Form: लोट्-लकार (Imperative), मध्यमपुरुष, एकवचन; आत्मनेपद

• मे: to me/from me
• मे: सम्प्रदान (Sampradāna/Recipient)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी/चतुर्थी-एकवचन (Genitive/Dative singular; enclitic)

Speakers

• Didactic narrator introducing standard caturyuga total of 12
• 000 divine years.

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Yuga theory
• Puranic chronology

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Dharma is portrayed as cyclically waxing and waning across vast epochs; ethical life is framed as participating in a larger moral ecology of time.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Manvantara-chronology support: yuga lengths are required to compute manvantaras and kalpa-scale narratives (sarga/pratisarga contexts).

What is the esoteric significance?

The ‘fourfold age’ can be read as phases of inner discipline: purity, effort, conflict, and obscuration—recurring in personal and collective history.