Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 45, Shloka 11

Adhyaya 45 — Jaimini’s Cosmological Questions and the Opening of Markandeya’s Account of Primary Creation

Sanskrit

यावत्यः सृष्टयश्चैव यावन्तः प्रलयास्तथा ।

यथा कल्पविभागश्च या च मन्वन्तरस्थितिḥ ॥

Transliteration

yāvatyaḥ sṛṣṭayaś caiva yāvantaḥ pralayās tathā | yathā kalpavibhāgaś ca yā ca manvantarasthitiḥ ||

Translation

Có bao nhiêu loại sáng tạo, và cũng có bao nhiêu loại tan hoại (pralaya); sự phân chia của các kalpa ra sao; và thời lượng/cấu trúc của một manvantara là thế nào—xin hãy nói cho tôi.

Word by Word

• yāvatyaḥ: as many (f.) as
• yāvatyaḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: yāvatī (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; परिमाणवाचक-सम्बन्ध-सर्वनाम (relative quantitative)

• sṛṣṭayaḥ: creations
• sṛṣṭayaḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sṛṣṭi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• eva: indeed/just
• eva: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: निश्चय/अवधारण-अव्यय (emphatic particle)

• yāvantaḥ: as many (m.) as
• yāvantaḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: yāvat (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; परिमाणवाचक-सम्बन्ध-सर्वनाम

• pralayāḥ: dissolutions (cosmic destructions)
• pralayāḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pralaya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन

• tathā: likewise/so
• tathā: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: प्रकारवाचक-अव्यय (adverb: ‘thus/so’)

• yathā: as/how
• yathā: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yathā (अव्यय)
• Form: प्रकार/सम्बन्धवाचक-अव्यय (relative adverb: ‘as/how’)

• kalpa-vibhāgaḥ: the division of the kalpa
• kalpa-vibhāgaḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kalpa + vibhāga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (‘कल्पस्य विभागः’ = division of a kalpa)

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय

• yā: which (f.)
• yā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सम्बन्ध-सर्वनाम

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्धः)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय

• manvantara-sthitiḥ: the state/duration of the Manvantara
• manvantara-sthitiḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: manvantara + sthiti (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (‘मन्वन्तरस्य स्थितिः’ = state/duration of a manvantara)

Speakers

• Inquirer (Jaimini in the common frame) questioning revered sages

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Kalpa
• Manvantara
• Sarga-Pralaya cycles
• Purāṇic time

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The request expands perspective from personal time to cosmic time; ethical steadiness arises when one sees one’s life as a brief segment within repeating cycles.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Directly concerns sarga and pratisarga (cycles of creation/re-creation) and manvantara (epochal administration), core purāṇic lakṣaṇas.

What is the esoteric significance?

Kalpa divisions can symbolize graded states of consciousness; repeated ‘creation/dissolution’ parallels the continual arising and subsiding of experience in meditation.