इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्
Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration
न कन्यां याचते कक्षिन्नापि कन्या प्रदीयते । स्वयंग्राहा भविष्यन्ति युगान्ते समुपस्थिते
na kanyāṃ yācate kaścin nāpi kanyā pradīyate | svayaṃgrāhā bhaviṣyanti yugānte samupasthite ||
Wika ni Mārkaṇḍeya: “Sa panahong iyon, walang hihingi ng dalaga para sa pag-aasawa, at wala ring dalagang pormal na ibibigay. Kapag papalapit na ang wakas ng panahon, ang mga pagsasama ay lilitaw sa sariling pagpili at sariling pagkuha, sa labas ng nakaugaliang mga ritwal.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
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.
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.