Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 57, Shloka 20

Adhyaya 57 — The Ninefold Divisions of Bharata: Mountains, Rivers, and Peoples

Sanskrit

पारा चर्मण्वती नूपी विदिशा वेत्रवत्यपि ।

शिप्रा ह्यवर्णो च तथा पारियात्राश्रयाः स्मृताः ॥

Transliteration

pārā carmaṇvatī nūpī vidiśā vetravaty api / śiprā hy avarṇo ca tathā pāriyātrāśrayāḥ smṛtāḥ

Translation

ပါရာ၊ စရ္မဏဝတီ၊ နူပီ၊ ဝိဒိရှာ၊ ထို့ပြင် ဝေထ္ရဝတီ; ရှိပရာ နှင့် အဝရ္ဏာ တို့လည်းရှိ၏—ဤတို့ကို ပါရိယာတြ တောင်တန်း/ဒေသ၌ တည်ရှိ (ဆက်နွယ်) သော မြစ်များဟု မှတ်မိကြသည်။

Word by Word

• पारा: Pārā
• पारा: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पारा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• चर्मण्वती: Carmaṇvatī
• चर्मण्वती: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: चर्मण्वती (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• नूपी: Nūpī
• नूपी: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नूपी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग (river-name), प्रथमा, एकवचन

• विदिशा: Vidiśā
• विदिशा: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विदिशा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• वेत्रवती: Vetravatī
• वेत्रवती: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वेत्रवती (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• अपि: also
• अपि: निपात (Particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, समुच्चय/अपि-कार (particle: 'also')

• शिप्रा: Śiprā
• शिप्रा: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिप्रा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• हि: indeed
• हि: निपात (Particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, निपात (particle; emphasis/causal nuance)

• अवर्णः: Avarṇa
• अवर्णः: कर्ता (List item)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अवर्ण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग (Masculine; river-name), प्रथमा, एकवचन

• च: and
• च: समुच्चय (Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, समुच्चय

• तथा: and also
• तथा: समुच्चय (Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, समुच्चयार्थ

• पारियात्र-आश्रयाः: having their source in/depending on Pāriyātra
• पारियात्र-आश्रयाः: विशेषण (Qualifier of subject)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पारियात्र (प्रातिपदिक) + आश्रय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (Determinative: 'पारियात्रम् आश्रयन्ति/आश्रिताः'), पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; विशेषण (qualifying the rivers mentioned)

• स्मृताः: are said/are remembered (as)
• स्मृताः: क्रिया/विधेय (Predicate)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्मृ (धातु) + क्त (कृदन्त)
• Form: भूतकर्मणि कृदन्त (Past passive participle), पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; विधेय (predicate)

Speakers

• Unspecified in provided excerpt (catalogue continues)

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Geography
• Central India rivers
• Mountain-region mapping

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Dharma is localized: by tying rivers to regions and ranges, the text sacralizes everyday geography, urging stewardship and ritual mindfulness.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Geographic/tīrtha cataloguing that supports Purāṇic encyclopedism; it is an auxiliary layer rather than a direct pancalakṣaṇa pillar.

What is the esoteric significance?

Mountains signify stability and rivers signify movement—together they symbolize the balance of steadiness (dharma) and flow (life-force).