Markandeya was an ancient Indian Muni (sage) and he is known as author of religious Hindu texts. It may be a surprise to many people who are devotees of Lord Vishnu (vaishnavas) or Lord Shiva (shaivas), but Markandeya was a devotee of both. In the Hindu pantheon of religions, vaishnavas, shaivas, and shaktas represent mostly independent islands of beliefs.
Markandeya is one of the Chiranjeevin - the immortals in Hinduism. On the basis of the interactions of people known in Hinduism, it is sure that Markandeya lived through more yugas. He is sometimes called Maha Muni (Great Sage) and he is the author of important Hindu scriptures, Markandeya Purana is one of them. Summaries of Markandeya Purana say that sage Jaimini, the disciple of Veda Vyasa, asked Markandeya to explain to him some difficult parts of the Mahabharata. Here we can see that Markandeya was very, very important.
Markandeya is mentioned in a number of stories from the Puranas and he also appears in the Mahabharata - he meets the exiled Pandavas in the forest and helps them ease their sorrows by narrating them stories of earlier kings. The same soothing role in the forest shows sage Medhas. Living in a hermitage among wild but loving animals, Medhas exhibits a similar "fatherly" attitude to king Suratha and the merchant who were depraved of property and went to the forest. In Markandeya Purana, where the story of Devi Mahatmyam begins (Chapter 81), Markandeya says (translated by F. E. Pargiter, 1904):
(Verse 3, Chapter 81) In times ago in the Svároc'isha period, a king named Suratha, sprung of the race of C'aitra, reigned over the whole earth. And while he guarded his subjects duly as if they were his own children, there arose hostile kings… (Verse 7-8-9) His powerful and corrupt ministers, who were evil-disposed to a weak person, thereupon robbed him of treasury and army even there in his own city. Hence the king deprived of his sovereignty departed alone on horseback to a dense forest under the pretence of hunting. There he saw the hermitage of the noble dvija Medhas, inhabited by wild animals which were peaceful, graced by the muni's disciples…"
The complete text of F. E. Pargiter's translation can be downloaded here.
Markandeya was born in Satya Yuga and he is a very ancient rishi (sage). It is not possible to mention all references to this great sage in Hindu scriptures, but the story of Shiva fighting with Yama (god of death) is very popular. Shiva protected Markandeya from the clutches of Yama's death promise.
This sage is one of the most important sages of the Hindu religion and, as traditions say, he lives thousands of years. No one in this modern world has ever been wiser than this great sage and not even the greatest man of this world can ever be immortal.
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Juraj's karma with great sages of India |
