Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 89, Shloka 20

Adhyaya 89 — The Wrath of Shumbha and Nishumbha and the Fall of Nishumbha

Sanskrit

ततः काली समुत्पत्य गगनं क्ष्मामताडयत् ।

कराभ्यां तन्निनादेन प्राक्स्वनास्ते तिरोधिताḥ ॥

Transliteration

tataḥ kālī samutpatya gaganaṃ kṣmāmatāḍayat / karābhyāṃ tanninādena prāksvanāste tirohitāḥ

Translation

ထိုနောက် ကာလီသည် ခုန်ထ၍ မိုးကောင်းကင်နှင့် မြေပြင်ကို ထိုးခတ်လေ၏။ နားထောင်ရသကဲ့သို့ မိုးကြိုးသံတူသော လက်နှစ်ဖက်၏ တုန်ခတ်သံကြောင့် အရင်သံများအားလုံး လုံးဝ ဖုံးလွှမ်းသွား၏။

Word by Word

• ततः: then
• ततः: Kāla-adhikaraṇa (कालाधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः (अव्यय)
• Form: कालबोधक अव्यय (then)

• काली: Kālī
• काली: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: काली (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग (f.), प्रथमा (nominative/कर्ता), एकवचन

• समुत्पत्य: having leapt up
• समुत्पत्य: Pūrvakāla-kriyā (पूर्वकालक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-उत्-पत् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (absolutive/gerund), अव्यय; पूर्वक्रिया (having sprung up)

• गगनम्: the sky
• गगनम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गगन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• क्ष्माम्: the earth
• क्ष्माम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्ष्मा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• अताडयत्: struck/beat
• अताडयत्: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ताडय् (धातु) < तड्/ताड् (धातु) + णिच्
• Form: लङ् (Imperfect/past), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन, परस्मैपद; णिजन्त

• कराभ्याम्: with (her) two hands
• कराभ्याम्: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (instrumental/करण), द्विवचन

• तत्-निनादेन: by that sound
• तत्-निनादेन: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तत् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक) + निनाद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया, एकवचन; समासः—षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (‘तस्य निनादः’)

• प्राक्-स्वनाः: the earlier sounds
• प्राक्-स्वनाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राक् (अव्यय/उपसर्गार्थ) + स्वन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (‘पूर्वं ये स्वनाः’)

• ते: they
• ते: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन (pronoun)

• तिरोधिताः: were eclipsed/vanished
• तिरोधिताः: Kriyā (क्रिया/भाव)
• Type: Verb
• Root: तिरो-धा (धातु)
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; कर्मणि-भावः (having been obscured)

Speakers

• Narratorial

Verse Rasa

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

Primary Deities

• Kālī
• Devī (as overarching presence)

Shakti Aspects

• Kālī

Key Themes

• Shaktism
• Fierce goddess iconography
• Sound power
• Cosmic combat

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

When adharma becomes entrenched, a fiercer remedial force manifests. Kālī represents uncompromising purification—what is needed to end violence and delusion when gentler measures fail.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Narrative (ākhyāna/vaṃśānucarita-type) used as dharma-teaching through divine exemplum, not a direct pancalakṣaṇa catalog section.

What is the esoteric significance?

Kālī’s ‘eclipsing sound’ indicates the overpowering of mental noise by a deeper, transformative power—dissolving prior vṛttis (habitual patterns) so insight can prevail.