Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 57, Shloka 55

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

Sanskrit

अन्नजास्तुष्टिकाराश्च वीरहोत्रा ह्यवन्तयः ।

एते जनपदाः सर्वे विन्ध्यपृष्ठनिवासिनः ॥

Transliteration

annajāstuṣṭikārāśca vīrahotrā hyavantayaḥ / ete janapadāḥ sarve vindhyapṛṣṭhanivāsinaḥ

Translation

အန္နဇာ၊ တုṣ္ဋိကာရ၊ ဝီရဟောတရ၊ နှင့် အဝန္တိ—ဤဂျနပဒအပေါင်းတို့သည် ဝိန္ဓျ၏ နောက်ဘက်တောင်စောင်း (အတွင်းပိုင်း) တွင် နေထိုင်ကြ၏။

Word by Word

• annajāḥ: Annajas
• annajāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: annaja (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• tuṣṭikārāḥ: Tushtikaras
• tuṣṭikārāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tuṣṭikāra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

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

• vīrahotrāḥ: Virahotras
• vīrahotrāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vīrahotra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

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

• avantayaḥ: Avantayas
• avantayaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: avantaya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• ete: these
• ete: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: etad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Pronoun (सर्वनाम), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• janapadāḥ: countries/regions
• janapadāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: janapada (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• sarve: all
• sarve: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: sarva (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Adjective (विशेषण), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन) qualifying janapadāḥ

• vindhya-pṛṣṭha-nivāsinaḥ: inhabitants of the Vindhya back-country/slopes
• vindhya-pṛṣṭha-nivāsinaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vindhya (प्रातिपदिक) + pṛṣṭha (प्रातिपदिक) + nivāsin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa (locative/adhikaraṇa sense: vindhya-pṛṣṭhe nivāsinaḥ), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

Speakers

• Not Devī Māhātmya; summarizing statement within janapada catalogue.

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Geography
• Vindhya hinterland
• Summary classification

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The verse shows Purāṇic concern for ‘place-based identity’: peoples are understood in relation to mountains and ecological zones.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Geographical contextualization—supportive to historical/dynastic narration rather than an independent pancalakṣaṇa head.

What is the esoteric significance?

Vindhya as a symbolic ‘spine’ of the land: calling communities ‘back-slope dwellers’ encodes a cosmographic body-image of Bhārata.