Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 84, Shloka 25

Adhyaya 84 — The Gods’ Hymn after the Slaying of Mahishasura and the Goddess’ Boon

Sanskrit

प्राच्यां रक्ष प्रतीच्यां च चण्डिके रक्ष दक्षिणे ।

भ्रामणेनात्मशूलस्य उत्तरस्यां तथेश्वरि ॥

Transliteration

prācyāṃ rakṣa pratīcyāṃ ca caṇḍike rakṣa dakṣiṇe / bhrāmaṇenātmaśūlasya uttarasyāṃ tatheśvari

Translation

အရှေ့နှင့် အနောက်၌ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ကို ကာကွယ်ပါ။ အို စဏ္ဍိကာမယ်တော်၊ တောင်ဘက်၌ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ကို ကာကွယ်ပါ။ မြောက်ဘက်၌လည်းကောင်း၊ အို အရှင်မယ်တော်၊ မယ်တော်၏ သုံးခွံလှံကို လှည့်ဝိုင်းလှုပ်ရှားစေခြင်းဖြင့် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ကို ကာကွယ်ပါ။

Word by Word

• prācyām: in the east
• prācyām: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: prācī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन)

• rakṣa: protect
• rakṣa: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √rakṣ (रक्ष्)
• Form: Imperative (लोट्), 2nd person (मध्यमपुरुष), Singular (एकवचन); parasmaipada

• pratīcyām: in the west
• pratīcyām: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pratīcī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन)

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

• caṇḍike: O Caṇḍikā
• caṇḍike: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: caṇḍikā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Vocative (8th/सम्बोधन), Singular (एकवचन)

• rakṣa: protect
• rakṣa: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √rakṣ (रक्ष्)
• Form: Imperative (लोट्), 2nd person, Singular

• dakṣiṇe: in the south
• dakṣiṇe: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dakṣiṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग) / Masculine possible; Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन); direction-name

• bhrāmaṇena: by the whirling
• bhrāmaṇena: Karaṇa (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhrāmaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Singular (एकवचन); ‘whirling/rotation’

• ātma-śūlasya: of (your) own trident
• ātma-śūlasya: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ātman (प्रातिपदिक) + śūla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular (एकवचन); तत्पुरुषः: आत्मनः शूलम्

• uttarasyām: in the north
• uttarasyām: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: uttarā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन)

• tathā: likewise/also
• tathā: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Adverbial)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: Adverb (क्रियाविशेषण)

• īśvari: O Lady/Lordess (Īśvarī)
• īśvari: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: īśvarī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Vocative (8th/सम्बोधन), Singular (एकवचन)

Speakers

• Devas (supplication)

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "bhakti", "secondaryRasa": "vira", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Primary Deities

• Devi (Chandika/Durga)

Shakti Aspects

• Caṇḍikā; Īśvarī

Key Themes

• Directional guardianship
• Ritual protection motif
• Fierce compassion

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Protection is envisioned as total—covering all directions—implying that dharma requires vigilance in every ‘quarter’ of life (thought, speech, action, and circumstance).

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

A liturgical insertion within narrative (carita), used to model devotional practice rather than to enumerate cosmology or genealogies.

What is the esoteric significance?

The four directions can symbolize the mind’s outward flows; the ‘whirling trident’ signifies dynamic, active protection—discernment in motion, not passive withdrawal.