Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 71, Shloka 16
Adhyaya 71 — The King’s Remorse and the Sage’s Counsel on the Necessity of a Wife
राजोवाच सा नीता केन पातालमास्ते सदूषिता कथम् । अत्यद्भुतमिदं ब्रह्मन् ! यथावद्वक्तुमर्हसि ॥
rājovāca sā nītā kena pātālam āste sadūṣitā katham / aty-adbhutam idaṃ brahman yathāvad vaktum arhasi
ਰਾਜਾ ਬੋਲਿਆ—ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਕੌਣ ਲੈ ਗਿਆ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਪਾਤਾਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੱਸਦੀ ਹੈ? ਉਹ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਦੂਸ਼ਿਤ ਹੋਈ? ਹੇ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ, ਇਹ ਬਹੁਤ ਅਚੰਭਾ ਹੈ—ਕਿਰਪਾ ਕਰਕੇ ਠੀਕ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਸਮਝਾਓ।
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FAQs
Wonder (adbhuta) becomes a doorway to inquiry: the king seeks not gossip but causal clarity and moral assessment (agency and ‘pollution’), a prerequisite for right restitution.
Narrative progression toward an explanatory sub-story; may segue into loka/pātāla description or a demon/being’s action, but here it remains within ethical dialogue rather than a core pañcalakṣaṇa catalog.
The question ‘who took her’ mirrors the inner search for the force that drags the mind downward—desire, fear, pride, or delusion; ‘defilement’ points to how contact with such forces stains discernment.