Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 26, Shloka 26
Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
करोषि किमिदं मूढे ! ममाभावाय सन्ततेः ।
दुष्टावबोधदानेन यथापूर्वं सुतेषु मे ॥
karoṣi kim idaṃ mūḍhe! mamābhāvāya santateḥ / duṣṭāvabodha-dānena yathāpūrvaṃ suteṣu me //
“Hỡi kẻ ngu muội, ngươi đang làm gì vậy—định khiến dòng dõi của ta tuyệt diệt sao? Chính vì ngươi ban lời chỉ dạy trái nghịch, như trước kia ngươi đã làm đối với các con trai của ta!”
FAQs
The verse frames a dharmic tension: renunciatory teaching given prematurely to heirs can undermine worldly responsibilities (rāja-dharma, family continuity). The critique is not of knowledge itself, but of mis-timed instruction that disrupts prescribed stages and duties.
Primarily falls under Vaṃśa/Anucarita (dynastic/narrative instruction) rather than Sarga/Pratisarga/Manvantara. It is an ethical-illustrative episode embedded in the Purāṇic narrative.
Symbolically, ‘perverse instruction’ indicates knowledge divorced from adhikāra (readiness). True teaching must match the recipient’s stage; otherwise, it becomes a force of ‘dissolution’ (pralaya) within social and personal order.