OṀ namaś caṇḍikāyai

OṀ. Salutation to Caṇḍikā

OṀ aiṁ mārkaṇḍeya uvāca

1.1 OṀ aiṁ. Mārkaṇḍeya said:

sāvarṇiḥ sūryatanayo yo manuh kathyate ’ṣṭamaḥ
niśāmaya tad utpattiṁ vistarād gadato mama

1.2 Sāvarṇi, who is Sūrya’s son, is called the eighth manu. Listen while I relate the story of his birth

mahāmāyānubhāvena yathā manvantarādhipaḥ
sa babhūva mahābhāgah sāvarṇis tanayo raveḥ

1.3 and of how, by Mahāmāyā’s authority, he—the illustrious son of the sun god—came to be the lord of an age.

svārociṣe ’ntare pūrvaṁ caitravaṁśasamudbhavaḥ
suratho nāma rājābhūt samaste kṣitimaṇḍale

1.4 Long ago in the age of the manu Svarociṣba, there arose from the line of Caitra a king named Suratha, who ruled over the whole earth.

tasya pālayataḥ samyak prajāḥ putrānivaurasān
babhūvuḥ śatravo bhūpāḥ kolāvidhvarhsinas tadā

1.5 He looked after his subjects justly, as if they were his own children. But there were princes at that time who attacked the native hill tribes and became his enemies.

tasya tair abhavad yuddham atiprabaladaṇḍinaḥ
nyūnair api sa tair yuddhe kolāvidhvamsibhir jitaḥ

1.6 Though mightily armed and resolved to fight against them, he suffered defeat in battle, despite his enemies’ inferior forces.

tataḥ svapuram āyāto nijadeśādhipo ’bhavat
ākrāntaḥ sa mahābhāgas tais tadā prabalāribhiḥ

1.7 And so, with only his native province left to rule, he returned to his own city. There, powerful adversaries set upon him, the illustrious Suratha,

amātyair balibhir duṣṭair durbalasya durātmabhiḥ
kośo balam cāpahṛtaṁ tatrāpi svapure tataḥ

1.8 now bereft of strength. His ministers, mighty, corrupted, and disposed to evil, seized power and plundered the treasury, even there in his own city.

tato mṛgayāvyājena hṛtasvāmyaḥ sa bhūpatiḥ
ekākī hayam āruhya jagāma gahanaṁ vanam

1.9 Thus robbed of his dominion, the king mounted his horse on the pretext of hunting and rode off alone into the dense forest.

sa tatrāśramam adrākṣīd dvijavaryasya medhasaḥ
praśāntaśvāpadākīrṇaṁ muniśiṣyopaśobhitam

1.10 He came upon the hermitage of Medhas, chief among the twice-born, and beheld a forest retreat, graced by the sage’s disciples. There he saw beasts once wild now peacefully abiding.

tasthau kañcit sa kālaṁ ca muninā tena satkṛtaḥ
itaś cetaś ca vicaraṁs tasmin munivarāśrame

1.11 Welcomed by the sage, he remained at the hermitage for some time, wandering here and there about the enclosure

so ’cintayat tadā tatra mamatvākṛṣṭamānasaḥ

1.12 In that setting, self-centered concerns came to seize his mind, and he reflected: