Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 50, Shloka 33
Adhyaya 50 — Mind-Born Progeny, Svayambhuva Manu’s Lineage, and Brahmā’s Ordinance to Duḥsaha (Alakṣmī’s Retinue)
दुःखोद्भवाः स्मृता ह्येते सर्वे वाधर्मलक्षणाः ।
नैषां भार्यास्ति पुत्रो वा सर्वे ते ह्यूर्ध्वरेतसः ॥
निरृतिश्च तथा चान्या मृत्योर्भार्याभवन्मुने ।
अलक्ष्मीर्नाम तस्याञ्च मृत्योः पुत्राश्चतुर्दश ॥
duḥkhodbhavāḥ smṛtā hy ete sarve vādharmalakṣaṇāḥ | naiṣāṃ bhāryāsti putro vā sarve te hy ūrdhvaretasaḥ ||
nirṛtiś ca tathā cānyā mṛtyor bhāryābhavan mune | alakṣmīr nāma tasyāṃ ca mṛtyoḥ putrāś caturdaśa ||
这一切都被记述为由苦难而生，且皆带有非正法（adharma）的印记。他们既无妻亦无子；众皆为“ūrdhvaretas”，即不以寻常方式繁衍。又有尼尔利蒂（Nirṛti）亦成为死神之另一位妻子，噢圣贤；由她生出一女，名阿拉克什米（Alakṣmī），而死神由此一系得十四子。
FAQs
Adharmic forces are portrayed as sterile in a social-moral sense (no lawful household lineage), yet potent in disruption. Misfortune (Alakṣmī) is rooted in ruin (nirṛti) and death (mṛtyu), emphasizing that inauspiciousness is tied to decay and unethical drift.
Sarga/Pratisarga genealogical listing; additionally, it functions as a didactic catalogue explaining how adharma manifests in the world through named forces (alakṣmī and her agents).
‘Ūrdhvaretas’ here can symbolize forces that do not ‘create’ life but consume it—energies of depletion rather than generation. Alakṣmī represents the subtle principle of inauspicious entropy affecting mind, home, and polity.