Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 45, Shloka 63

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

Sanskrit

भूतेभ्यो 'ण्डं महाबुद्धे ! वृहत्तदुदकेशयम् ।

प्राकृते 'ण्डे विवृद्धः सन् क्षेत्रज्ञो ब्रह्मसंज्ञितः ॥

Transliteration

bhūtebhyo 'ṇḍaṃ mahābuddhe ! vṛhattadudakeśayam / prākṛte 'ṇḍe vivṛddhaḥ san kṣetrajño brahmasaṃjñitaḥ

Translation

由诸元素生起此卵，噫，大心者——其广大无边，安住于水上。在那物质性的普拉克里提之卵（Prākṛta）中，待其长成，“知田者”（Kṣetrajña）出现，即以梵天（Brahmā）之名为人所知。

Word by Word

• bhūtebhyaḥ: from the elements/beings
• bhūtebhyaḥ: Apādāna (अपादान/source)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhūta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी (5th/अपादान), बहुवचन

• aṇḍam: the egg
• aṇḍam: Karma (कर्म/object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: aṇḍa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; अत्र कर्मरूपेण (object understood with previous context 'produce')

• mahā-buddhe: O great-minded one
• mahā-buddhe: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन/address)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā (प्रातिपदिक) + buddhi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: कर्मधारय-समास (great-intelligence), पुल्लिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/vocative), एकवचन

• vṛhat: vast, great
• vṛhat: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: vṛhat (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (qualifying 'aṇḍam')

• tad-udaka-śayam: resting in that water
• tad-udaka-śayam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक) + udaka (प्रातिपदिक) + śaya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (lying in that water), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (of 'aṇḍam')

• prākṛte: in the primordial/natural
• prākṛte: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: prākṛta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (of 'aṇḍe')

• aṇḍe: in the egg
• aṇḍe: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/location)
• Type: Noun
• Root: aṇḍa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन

• vivṛddhaḥ: fully grown
• vivṛddhaḥ: Karta (कर्ता; predicate adjective of subject)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vi-vṛdh (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past participle), पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; अर्थः—अतिवृद्धः (fully grown)

• san: being
• san: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण/participial)
• Type: Verb
• Root: as (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमानकृदन्त (present participle), पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; अर्थः—सन् (being)

• kṣetrajñaḥ: the knower of the field (Self)
• kṣetrajñaḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṣetrajña (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• brahma-saṃjñitaḥ: called Brahmā/Brahman
• brahma-saṃjñitaḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + saṃjñita (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास ('named Brahman'), पुल्लिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (of kṣetrajñaḥ)

Speakers

• Narrative discourse within cosmological teaching (frame-speaker not explicit in the given excerpt)

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Primary Deities

• Brahmā
• Kṣetrajña (as a principle)

Key Themes

• Cosmology
• Cosmic egg on primordial waters
• Kṣetrajña
• Brahmā as first embodied principle

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Even within material nature (prākṛta), the organizing consciousness appears as kṣetrajña/Brahmā to initiate ordered life. The teaching balances material causation with a conscious principle.

How does this fit the Pancalakṣaṇa (5 characteristics)?

Sarga: emergence of Brahmā/Hiraṇyagarbha within the cosmic egg is a standard primary-creation milestone.

What is the esoteric significance?

‘Resting on waters’ suggests undifferentiated potential (causal ocean). The rise of kṣetrajña within the egg mirrors awakening of the inner witness within the ‘body-egg’ of the practitioner.