Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 47, Shloka 18

Adhyaya 47 — Brahma’s Awakening and the Ninefold Scheme of Creation

Sanskrit

तं दृष्ट्वासाधकं सर्गममन्यदपरं पुनः ।

तस्याभिध्यायतः सर्गं तिर्यक्‍स्रोतो ह्यवर्तत ॥

Transliteration

taṃ dṛṣṭvāsādhakaṃ sargam amanyad aparaṃ punaḥ /

tasyābhidhyāyataḥ sargaṃ tiryakstroto hy avartata ||

Translation

ထိုဖန်တီးမှုသည် ရည်ရွယ်ချက်နှင့် မကိုက်ညီ၍ အကျိုးမရှိကြောင်း မြင်သဖြင့်၊ သူသည် ထပ်မံ၍ အခြားဖန်တီးမှုတစ်ရပ်ကို စိတ်ကူးတည်ဆောက်하였다။ ထိုသို့ စဉ်းစားသုံးသပ်နေစဉ် «တိရျယက်-စရောတစ်» (ဘေးဘက်သို့ စီးဆင်း/လှုပ်ရှားသော) ဟု ခေါ်သော ဖန်တီးမှု ပေါ်ပေါက်လာ하였다။

Word by Word

• तम्: that (it/him)
• तम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम (pronoun), पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• दृष्ट्वा: having seen
• दृष्ट्वा: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: dṛś (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive), ‘having seen’

• असाधकम्: non-accomplishing, ineffective
• असाधकम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: a-sādhaka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण (qualifier)

• सर्गम्: creation, emanation
• सर्गम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sarga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• अमन्यत्: thought, considered
• अमन्यत्: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: man (धातु)
• Form: लङ् (imperfect/past), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन

• अपरम्: another, different
• अपरम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: apara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण

• पुनः: again
• पुनः: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: punar (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb)

• तस्य: of him/that
• तस्य: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, पुं/नपुंसक, षष्ठी (6th/genitive), एकवचन

• अभिध्यायतः: of (him) meditating/pondering
• अभिध्यायतः: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Verb
• Root: abhi-dhyai (धातु)
• Form: शतृ/शानच्-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमानकाले कृदन्त (present participle), परस्मैपद-प्रयोग; षष्ठी (6th) एकवचन—‘while he was meditating/pondering’

• सर्गम्: creation
• सर्गम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sarga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• तिर्यक्-स्रोतः: the sideways stream (creation)
• तिर्यक्-स्रोतः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tiryak (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक) + srotas (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (determinative): ‘तिर्यक्’ (sideways) + ‘स्रोतस्’ (stream); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• हि: indeed
• हि: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: hi (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (particle/emphasis)

• अवर्तत: came into being, proceeded
• अवर्तत: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vṛt (धातु)
• Form: लङ् (imperfect/past), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन

Speakers

• Narratorial cosmology within the Markandeya Purana’s teaching context (frame-speakers not explicit in these verses)

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Brahmā

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Sarga (Creation)
• Guṇa theory
• Classification of beings

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Creation is presented as a graded manifestation: when a form of manifestation does not serve the intended telos (ordered life, knowledge, or dharma), Brahmā ‘re-conceives’ further orders. The text implies a hierarchy of capacity for knowledge and purposeful action among beings.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Primarily Sarga (primary creation): successive emanations of categories of beings from Brahmā’s contemplation.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Srotas’ (stream/flow) symbolizes the directional tendency of consciousness: sideways (instinct-bound), upward (sattva-illumined), and downward (mixed, effortful). The verse introduces the ‘sideways’ current as a mode of embodied awareness.