Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 49, Shloka 50

Adhyaya 49 — Primordial Human Creation, the Rise of Desire, and the Origins of Settlements, Measures, and Agriculture

Sanskrit

शकटारूढभाण्डैश्च गोपालैर्विपणं विना ।

गोस्मूहैस्तथा घोषो यत्रेच्छाभूमिकेतनः ॥

Transliteration

śakaṭārūḍhabhāṇḍaiś ca gopālair vipaṇaṃ vinā / gosamūhais tathā ghoṣo yatreच्छābhūmiketanaḥ

Translation

လှည်းများပေါ်တွင် ပစ္စည်းများတင်ဆောင်ထားသော နွားထိန်းများနှင့် နွားအုပ်များ နေထိုင်သော်လည်း စျေးကွက်မရှိသောနေရာ—ထိုကဲ့သို့သောနေရာကို «ဃိုးသ» (ghoṣa) ဟု ခေါ်ပြီး လိုသလိုရနိုင်သည့် မြေပေါ်တွင် တည်နေသော နွားထိန်းစခန်းဖြစ်သည်။

Word by Word

• शकट-आरूढ-भाण्डैः: with goods loaded on carts
• शकट-आरूढ-भाण्डैः: Sahakāri (सहकारी/instrumental accompaniment)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śakaṭa (प्रातिपदिक) + ārūḍha (कृदन्त/प्रातिपदिक) + bhāṇḍa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: बहुवचन, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), नपुंसकलिङ्ग; 'with goods loaded on carts'

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/coordination)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयबोधक (conjunction)

• गोपालैः: with cowherds
• गोपालैः: Sahakāri (सहकारी/with)
• Type: Noun
• Root: gopāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: बहुवचन, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), पुंलिङ्ग

• विपणम्: a market
• विपणम्: Karma (कर्म; with vinā: 'without X')
• Type: Noun
• Root: vipaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: एकवचन, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), नपुंसकलिङ्ग

• विना: without
• विना: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/without-relation)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: vinā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; 'without'

• गो-समूहैः: with herds of cattle
• गो-समूहैः: Sahakāri (सहकारी/with)
• Type: Noun
• Root: go (प्रातिपदिक) + samūha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: बहुवचन, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), पुंलिङ्ग; 'with herds of cows'

• तथा: also, likewise
• तथा: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/also)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb)

• घोषः: a cowherd-settlement, cattle-station
• घोषः: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ghoṣa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: एकवचन, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), पुंलिङ्ग

• यत्र: where
• यत्र: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/locative sense)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yatra (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; सम्बन्धबोधक (relative adverb: 'where')

• इच्छा-भूमि-केतनः: having habitation on land at will
• इच्छा-भूमि-केतनः: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण of घोषः)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: icchā (प्रातिपदिक) + bhūmi (प्रातिपदिक) + ketana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: एकवचन, प्रथमा, पुंलिङ्ग; विशेषण; 'dwelling on land as desired/at will'

Speakers

• Narratorial description

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Pastoral economy
• Human geography
• Non-urban livelihood

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Economic form shapes settlement form: pastoral mobility (icchā-bhūmi-ketana) contrasts with agrarian rootedness (kṣetra), showing diverse legitimate livelihoods within dharma.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Ancillary descriptive passage supporting the lived world (loka) in which sarga/pratisarga unfold; not a direct pancalakṣaṇa unit.

What is the esoteric significance?

The cowherd camp symbolizes a life oriented to ‘go’ (vitality, nourishment) and movement—an inner mode of adaptability rather than fixed accumulation.