Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 59, Shloka 12

Adhyaya 59 — Cosmic Geography and Yuga-Order: Bhadrashva, Ketumala, and the Northern Kuru Region

Sanskrit

केतुमालमतो वर्षं निबोध मम पश्चिमम् ।

विशालः कम्बलः कृष्णो जयन्तो हरिपर्वतः ॥

Transliteration

ketumālamato varṣaṃ nibodha mama paścimam | viśālaḥ kambalaḥ kṛṣṇo jayanto hariparvataḥ ||

Translation

အနောက်ဘက်ဒေသ “ကေတုမာလ-ဝර්ෂ” (Ketumāla-varṣa) အကြောင်းကို ငါထံမှ လေ့လာကြလော့။ ထိုဒေသ၌ ဝိသာလ (Viśāla)၊ ကမ္ဗလ (Kambala)၊ ကೃෂ္ဏ (Kṛṣṇa)၊ ဇယန္တ (Jayanta) နှင့် ဟရိ-ပရဝတ (Hari-parvata) ဟူသော တောင်တန်းများ ရှိသည်။

Word by Word

• ketumālam: Ketumāla (name of a region)
• ketumālam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ketumāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular (एकवचन)

• ataḥ: thereafter; from there
• ataḥ: Sambandha/Adverbial (सम्बन्ध/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: atas (अव्यय-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), particle/adverb (निपात/क्रियाविशेषण): 'thereafter/from that'

• varṣam: region/continent (varṣa)
• varṣam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: varṣa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular (एकवचन)

• nibodha: know; understand
• nibodha: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: budh (बुध् धातु) + ni- (उपसर्ग)
• Form: Loṭ-lakāra (लोट्, imperative), Madhyama-puruṣa (मध्यमपुरुष), Singular (एकवचन), Parasmaipada (परस्मैपद)

• mama: of me; my
• mama: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (अस्मद् सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular (एकवचन), pronoun (सर्वनाम)

• paścimam: western
• paścimam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: paścima (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Napumsaka (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular (एकवचन); adjective qualifying varṣam

• viśālaḥ: Viśāla (a mountain)
• viśālaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: viśāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); proper name (पर्वतनाम)

• kambalaḥ: Kambala (a mountain)
• kambalaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kambala (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); proper name (पर्वतनाम)

• kṛṣṇaḥ: Kṛṣṇa (a mountain)
• kṛṣṇaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṛṣṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); proper name (पर्वतनाम)

• jayantaḥ: Jayanta (a mountain)
• jayantaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jayanta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); proper name (पर्वतनाम)

• hari-parvataḥ: Hari-mountain; Hariparvata (a mountain)
• hari-parvataḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: hari (प्रातिपदिक) + parvata (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); ṣaṣṭhī-tatpuruṣa (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष): 'Harer parvataḥ'

Speakers

• Frame narrator (Purāṇic rishi voice) describing sacred geography (exact interlocutors not explicit in the given excerpt)

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Hari (Viṣṇu)

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Sacred Geography
• Puranic Topography

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The verse frames the world as a sacralized cosmos: geography is not merely physical but a map of dharmic order, where named mountains function as stable cosmic markers.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Primarily within Sthāna (cosmic arrangement/locations) and indirectly Sarga (ordered creation) through structured world-description.

What is the esoteric significance?

Naming mountains in a fixed sequence encodes a ‘mandala-like’ stability: the west (paścima) is integrated into a total cosmography where Hari’s domain is implicitly present.