Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 75, Shloka 20

Adhyaya 75 — The Fall and Restoration of Revatī Nakṣatra and the Birth of Raivata Manu

Sanskrit

ऋतवागुवाच यस्मान्ममैकपुत्रस्य रेवत्यन्तसमुद्भवम् ।

दौःशील्यमेतत्सा तस्मात् पततामाशु रेवती ॥

Transliteration

ṛtavāguvāca yasmān mamaikaputrasya revatyantasamudbhavam / dauḥśīlyam etat sā tasmāt patatām āśu revatī

Translation

ဩတဝာဂု (Ṛtavāgu) က ပြောသည်– «ငါ၏ တစ်ဦးတည်းသော သား၏ မကောင်းသော အကျင့်သည် ရေဝတျယန္တ (Revatyanta) ကြောင့် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသဖြင့်၊ ထို့ကြောင့် ရေဝတီ (Revatī) သည် ထိုအခြေအနေမှ အလျင်အမြန် ကျဆင်းပါစေ»။

Word by Word

• ṛtavāguvāca: Ṛtavāgu said
• ṛtavāguvāca: Kriya (क्रिया/main verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ṛtavāgu (प्रातिपदिक) + √vac (वच्)
• Form: आख्यात (finite verb) लिट् (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘उवाच’; कर्तृपद-समासवत् लेखनम् (speaker tag)

• yasmāt: because/from which
• yasmāt: Hetu/Apadana (हेतु/अपादान/from which, because)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन

• mama: my
• mama: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/possessor)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन

• eka-putrasya: of (my) only son
• eka-putrasya: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/possessor)
• Type: Noun
• Root: eka + putra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (ekaḥ putraḥ)

• revatyanta-samudbhavam: arisen from Revatyanta
• revatyanta-samudbhavam: Karma (कर्म/object complement)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: revatyanta + samudbhava (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (revatyantasya samudbhavam)

• dauḥśīlyam: bad conduct
• dauḥśīlyam: Karta (कर्ता/predicate subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dauḥśīlya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया (Nom/Acc), एकवचन; here as predicate nominative

• etat: this
• etat: Visheshana (विशेषण/modifier)
• Type: Noun
• Root: etad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘this’ referring to dauḥśīlyam

• sā: she (Revatī)
• sā: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन

• tasmāt: therefore/from that
• tasmāt: Hetu/Apadana (हेतु/अपादान/from that, therefore)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन

• patatām: let (her) fall
• patatām: Kriya (क्रिया/command)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √pat (पत्)
• Form: लोट् (Imperative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद; ‘let (her) fall’ (injunctive/benedictive sense)

• āśu: quickly
• āśu: Kriya-visheshana (क्रियाविशेषण/adverbial)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: āśu (अव्यय)
• Form: क्रियाविशेषण-अव्यय (adverb)

• revatī: Revatī
• revatī: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: revatī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन; proper name

Speakers

• Ṛtavāgu (speaker within the embedded narrative); Markandeya narrates overall (see v.21)

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "raudra", "secondaryRasa": "dharma", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Curse (śāpa)
• Moral causation and retribution
• Narrative justice

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Purāṇic ethics often portray speech (vāk) of ascetics as potent: a curse is framed as a targeted corrective response to perceived moral harm. The caution is twofold—against causing moral downfall, and against the volatility of reactive judgment.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Vamśānucarita/ākhyāna (narrative account) with etiological intent; it supports later place-name and person-origin explanations rather than cosmological creation.

What is the esoteric significance?

The ‘fall’ (patana) symbolizes descent of consciousness from a higher state due to distortion in conduct; the narrative externalizes inner ethical imbalance into a physical transformation/relocation.