Shloka 36

इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्

Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration

Devanagari script

न कन्यां याचते कक्षिन्नापि कन्या प्रदीयते । स्वयंग्राहा भविष्यन्ति युगान्ते समुपस्थिते

Transliteration

na kanyāṃ yācate kaścin nāpi kanyā pradīyate | svayaṃgrāhā bhaviṣyanti yugānte samupasthite ||

Translation

Маркандейя сказал: «В то время никто не будет сватать деву, и дева не будет отдаваться по установленному обряду. Когда приблизится конец века, союзы будут возникать по самовольному выбору и самовольному “взятию”, вне привычных ритуалов».

Word by Word

नnot

कन्याम्a maiden/daughter (as object)

याचतेasks/begs (for)

कश्चित्someone/anyone

नnor/not

अपिalso/even

कन्याa maiden/daughter

प्रदीयतेis given (in marriage)

स्वयम्by oneself/of one’s own accord

ग्राहाःseizers/takers (those who take)

भविष्यन्तिwill be/will become

युगान्तेat the end of the age

समुपस्थितेwhen (it) has arrived/when present

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mārkaṇḍeya

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse portrays a yuga-ending decline in dharmic social institutions: marriage shifts from a rite governed by family and prescribed norms (asking and giving) to unregulated self-choice/self-taking, signaling erosion of communal responsibility and customary dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Mārkaṇḍeya is describing signs of the approaching end of an age (yugānta). As part of these portents, he notes that traditional marriage negotiations and formal gifting of the bride will cease, replaced by spontaneous self-formed unions.