Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 50, Shloka 85

Adhyaya 50 — Mind-Born Progeny, Svayambhuva Manu’s Lineage, and Brahmā’s Ordinance to Duḥsaha (Alakṣmī’s Retinue)

Sanskrit

एकच्छागं द्विवालेयं त्रिगवं पञ्चमाहिषम् ।

षडश्वं सप्तमातङ्गं गृहं यक्षाशु शोषय ॥

Transliteration

ekacchāgaṃ dvi-vāleyaṃ tri-gavaṃ pañcamāhiṣam | ṣaḍ-aśvaṃ saptamātaṅgaṃ gṛhaṃ yakṣāśu śoṣaya ||

Translation

ဆိတ်တစ်ကောင်၊ သိုးနှစ်ကောင်၊ နွားသုံးကောင်၊ ပဉ္စမတိရစ္ဆာန်အဖြစ် ကျွဲတစ်ကောင်၊ မြင်းခြောက်ကောင်နှင့် သတ္တမအဖြစ် ဆင်တစ်ကောင်ရှိသော အိမ်ကို—အို ယက္ခာ—လျင်မြန်စွာ ခြောက်သွေ့ပျက်စီးစေပါ။

Word by Word

• एक-छागम्: one goat
• एक-छागम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: एक (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + छाग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास

• द्वि-वालेयम्: two vāleya (items)
• द्वि-वालेयम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्वि (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + वालेय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास; ‘two (items) of vāleya’ (lexeme rare)

• त्रि-गवम्: three cows (as a set)
• त्रि-गवम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: त्रि (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + गो (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास

• पञ्च-माहिषम्: five buffaloes (as a set)
• पञ्च-माहिषम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पञ्च (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + माहिष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास

• षड्-अश्वम्: six horses (as a set)
• षड्-अश्वम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: षड् (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + अश्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास

• सप्त-मातङ्गम्: seven elephants (as a set)
• सप्त-मातङ्गम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सप्त (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + मातङ्ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; द्विगु-समास

• गृहम्: house
• गृहम्: कर्म (Karma/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गृह (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन

• यक्ष: O Yakṣa!
• यक्ष: सम्बोधन (Sambodhana/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यक्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन

• आशु: quickly
• आशु: क्रियाविशेषण (Adverbial/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: आशु (अव्यय)
• Form: क्रियाविशेषण-अव्यय (adverb)

• शोषय: dry up, wither
• शोषय: क्रिया (Kriyā/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: शुष् (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (imperative/आज्ञार्थ), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद; causative sense ‘make dry’ (णिच् implied)

Speakers

• Didactic voice commanding a Yakṣa (inauspicious agent) to afflict certain households

Shakti Aspects

• Alakṣmī implied (prosperity ‘dries up’)

Key Themes

• Nimitta (omens)
• Wealth indicators
• Inauspicious numerology (contextual)

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The passage uses stylized numeration of assets to mark a ‘target’ for misfortune—suggesting that certain imbalanced or oddly configured prosperity is unstable or ethically suspect in the text’s omen logic.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Ancillary omen/dharma material.

What is the esoteric significance?

Enumerated possessions can symbolize attachment and asymmetry; the ‘drying up’ is the karmic image of prāṇa/śrī withdrawing when harmony (sattva) is absent.