Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 74, Shloka 61
Adhyaya 74 — King Svarashtra, the Deer-Queen’s Curse, and the Rise of Tamasa Manu
इत्येतत्तामसं विप्र मन्वन्तरमुदाहृतम् ।
यः पठेत् शृणुयाद्वापि तमसा स न बाध्यते ॥
ity etat tāmasaṃ vipra manvantaram udāhṛtam | yaḥ paṭhet śṛṇuyād vāpi tamasā sa na bādhyate ||
如是，婆罗门啊，此塔摩萨（Tāmasa）摩奴劫（Manvantara）已宣说。凡诵持此文者——乃至仅闻其声者——亦不为黑暗（tamas）所侵扰。
FAQs
Śravaṇa (hearing) and pāṭha (recitation) are presented as transformative disciplines: engaging with dharmic-cosmic narratives dispels ‘tamas’ understood as ignorance, lethargy, and moral confusion.
Manvantara, with an added Purāṇic phalaśruti that encourages preservation and transmission of the manvantara tradition.
The wordplay between ‘Tāmasa’ (a proper-noun Manu) and ‘tamas’ (darkness) implies that correct knowledge of cosmic order converts the very principle of darkness into a vehicle for insight—darkness is not ‘abolished’ but rendered non-binding.