Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 56, Shloka 4

Adhyaya 56 — The Descent and Fourfold Course of the Ganga; Jambudvipa’s Varshas and Their Conditions

Sanskrit

विकीryमाणसलिला निरालम्बा पपात सा ।

मन्दराद्येषु पादेषु प्रविभक्तोदका समम् ॥

Transliteration

vikīryamāṇasalilā nirālambā papāta sā /

mandarādyeṣu pādeṣu pravibhaktodakā samam

Translation

သူမ၏ ရေများသည် ပက်လက်ပြန့်ကျဲ၍ အထောက်အထားမရှိဘဲ အောက်သို့ ထိုးကျဆင်း하였다။ မန္ဒရတောင်ကဲ့သို့သော တောင်များ၏ ခြေရင်းတွင် သူမ၏ ရေသည် တန်းတူညီမျှစွာ ခွဲဝေကာ သီးခြားစီးကြောင်းများ ဖြစ်လာ하였다။

Word by Word

• vikīryamāṇa-salilā: whose waters were being scattered
• vikīryamāṇa-salilā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण/Qualifier of sā)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: vi-kṝ (धातु) + salilā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Kṛdanta: Śānac (Present passive participle/शानच्) ‘vikīryamāṇa’ + Subanta ‘salilā’; Strīliṅga, Prathamā, Ekavacana; samāsa: ‘(she) whose water is being scattered’

• nirālambā: unsupported
• nirālambā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण/Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: nir-ālamba (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Strīliṅga, Prathamā, Ekavacana; ‘without support’

• papāta: fell
• papāta: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pat (धातु)
• Form: Laṅ-lakāra, Prathama-puruṣa, Ekavacana, Parasmaipada

• sā: she
• sā: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Sarvanāma, Strīliṅga, Prathamā, Ekavacana

• mandara-ādyeṣu: in/among Mandara and the other (mountains)
• mandara-ādyeṣu: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/Location qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: mandara-ādi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (Masculine/पुंलिङ्ग) (ādi as m.), Saptamī vibhakti (Locative/सप्तमी), Bahuvacana (Plural/बहुवचन); samāsa: mandara + ādi (‘Mandara and others’) used adjectivally

• pādeṣu: on the quarters/regions (lit. feet)
• pādeṣu: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/Location)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pāda (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (Masculine/पुंलिङ्ग), Saptamī vibhakti (Locative/सप्तमी), Bahuvacana (Plural/बहुवचन)

• pravibhakta-udakā: with waters divided (into streams)
• pravibhakta-udakā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण/Qualifier of sā)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pra-vi-bhaj (धातु) + udakā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Kṛdanta: Kta (Past passive participle/क्त) ‘pravibhakta’ + Subanta ‘udakā’; Strīliṅga, Prathamā, Ekavacana; samāsa: ‘having water divided/distributed’

• samam: equally/at once
• samam: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण/Adverb)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: sama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Avyaya; adverb (क्रियाविशेषण) ‘equally/at once’

Speakers

• Mārkaṇḍeya (continuing narration)

Primary Deities

• Gaṅgā

Shakti Aspects

• Gaṅgā as Devī (hydro-cosmic force)

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Sacred Geography
• Mythic mountains

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Even when a force appears uncontrolled (‘nirālambā’), cosmic order channels it into balanced distribution—an image of dharma shaping raw power into beneficence.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Sthāna: mapping of terrain and hydrological distribution via sacred mountains.

What is the esoteric significance?

The ‘division at the mountain-feet’ can symbolize how lofty principles become practicable streams when they reach the ‘base’ level of embodied life.