Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 57, Shloka 56

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

Sanskrit

अतो देशान् प्रवक्ष्यामि पर्वताश्रयिणश्च ये ।

नीहाराः हंसमार्गाश्च कुरवो गुर्गणाः खसाः ॥

Transliteration

ato deśān pravakṣyāmi parvatāśrayiṇaśca ye / nīhārā haṃsamārgāśca kuravo gurgaṇāḥ khasāḥ

Translation

ယခု ငါသည် တောင်တန်းများ၌ ရှိသော နိုင်ငံဒေသများနှင့် ထိုတောင်များ၌ နေထိုင်သူတို့ကို ဖော်ပြမည်—နီဟာရ၊ ဟံသမာရ္ဂ၊ ကုရု၊ ဂုရ္ဂဏ၊ နှင့် ခသ တို့ဖြစ်ကြ၏။

Word by Word

• ataḥ: therefore/now
• ataḥ: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/adverbial)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ataḥ (अव्यय)
• Form: Adverb (क्रियाविशेषण अव्यय) meaning 'therefore/then'

• deśān: countries/regions
• deśān: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: deśa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Accusative (द्वितीया/2), Plural (बहुवचन)

• pravakṣyāmi: I shall describe
• pravakṣyāmi: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pra + vac (वच् धातु)
• Form: Simple Future (लृट्), 1st person (उत्तमपुरुष), Singular (एकवचन), Parasmaipada (परस्मैपद)

• parvata-āśrayiṇaḥ: mountain-dwellers
• parvata-āśrayiṇaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: parvata (प्रातिपदिक) + āśrayin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa (parvate āśrayiṇaḥ = those dwelling in mountains), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

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

• ye: who/which
• ye: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Relative pronoun (यत्), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• nīhārāḥ: Niharas
• nīhārāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nīhāra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• haṃsamārgāḥ: Hamsamargas
• haṃsamārgāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: haṃsa (प्रातिपदिक) + mārga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa (haṃsānāṃ mārgaḥ / haṃsa-mārga), Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

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

• kuravaḥ: Kuravas
• kuravaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kuru (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• gurgaṇāḥ: Gurganas
• gurgaṇāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: gurgaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

• khasāḥ: Khasas
• khasāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: khasa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (प्रथमा/1), Plural (बहुवचन)

Speakers

• Not Devī Māhātmya; narrative voice introduces a new sub-list: mountain peoples.

Verse Rasa

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

Key Themes

• Geography
• Mountain peoples
• Ethnography

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The Purāṇa recognizes ecological diversity (plains vs mountains) as shaping social groupings; knowledge of the world is presented as systematic and tiered.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

An auxiliary ‘bhū-varṇana’ segment typically embedded alongside vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita narration; not directly sarga/pratisarga/manvantara.

What is the esoteric significance?

Mountains often symbolize stability and austerity; ‘mountain-dwellers’ can be read as living closer to the axis of the sacred landscape.