Markandeya Purana

तत्वारि तु सहस्राणि वर्षाणां मानुषाणि तु । आयुः प्रमाणं जीवन्ति न च क्लेशाद्विपत्तयः॥४९.

For thousands of years, humans lived with a fixed lifespan, and there was no suffering or calamity.

क्वचित् क्वचित् पुनः साभूत् क्षितिर्भाग्येन सर्वशः । कालेन गच्छता नाशमुपयान्ति यथा प्रजाः॥४९.

Yet, at certain times and places, the earth, through fortune, was entirely so; as time passed, beings came to destruction as is their nature.

तथा ताः क्रमशो नाशं जग्मुः सर्वत्र सिद्धयः । तासु सर्वासु नष्टासु नभसः प्रच्युता नराः॥४९.

Thus, gradually, all those accomplishments perished everywhere; when all of them were lost, people fell from the sky.

प्रायशः कल्पवृक्षास्ते संभूता गृहसंज्ञिताः । सर्वे प्रत्युपभोगाश्च तासं तेभ्यः प्रजायते॥४९.

Mostly, wish-fulfilling trees arose, called 'house-trees'; all enjoyments for them came from these.

वर्तयन्ति स्म तेभ्यस्तास्त्रेतायुगमुखे तदा । ततः कालेन वै रागस्तासामाकस्मिकोऽभवत्॥४९.

They lived on those trees at the beginning of the Tretā Yuga; then, in the course of time, sudden passion arose among them.

मासि मास्यार्तवोत्पत्त्या गर्भोत्पत्तिः पुनः पुनः । रागोत्पत्त्या ततस्तासां वृक्षास्ते गृहसंज्ञिताः॥४९.

Month by month, with the arising of the season, conception occurred again and again; with the arising of passion, those trees, called 'house-trees,'

ब्रह्मन्नन्वपरेषान्तु पेतुः शाखा महीरुहाम् । वस्त्राणि च प्रसूयन्ते फलेष्वाभरणानि च॥४९.

O Brāhmaṇa, on others, branches of great trees fell; garments and ornaments were produced on their fruits.

तेष्वेव जायते तेषां गन्धवर्णरसान्वितम् । अमाक्षिकं माहवीर्यं पुटके पुटके मधु॥४९.

On those very trees, for them, honey endowed with fragrance, color, and taste was produced, strong and unfermented, in every hollow.

तेन वा वर्तयन्ति स्म मुखे त्रेयायुगस्य वै । ततः कालान्तरेणैव पुनर्लोभान्वितास्तु ताः॥४९.

With that, they lived at the beginning of the Tretā Yuga; then, as time passed, they again became filled with greed.

वृक्षांस्ताः पर्यगृह्णन्त ममत्वाविष्टचेतसः । नेशुस्तेनापचारेण तेऽपि तासां महीरुहाः॥४९.

They seized those trees, their minds possessed by a sense of ownership; and because of that misconduct, those great trees too perished for them.

ततो द्वन्द्वान्यजायन्ते शीतोष्णक्षुन्मुखानि वै । तास्तद्द्वन्द्वोपघातार्थं चक्रुः पूर्वं पुराणि तु॥४९.

Then pairs of opposites arose, such as cold and heat, hunger and so on; to counteract those opposites, they first built dwellings.

मरुधन्वषु दुर्गेषु पर्वतेषु दरीषु च । संश्रयन्ति च दुर्गाणि वार्क्षं पार्वतमौदकम्॥४९.

In deserts, in fortresses, in mountains, and in caves, they also take refuge in strongholds—whether wooded, mountainous, or watery.

कृत्रिमञ्च तथा दुर्गं मित्वा मित्वात्मनो।ङ्गुलैः । मानार्थानि प्रमाणानि तास्तु पूर्वं प्रचक्रिरे॥४९.

They also constructed artificial fortresses, measuring them with their own fingers, and established standards of measurement for practical purposes as before.

परमाणुः परं सूक्ष्मं त्रषरेणुर्महीरजः । बालाग्रञ्चैव लिक्षां च यूकां चाथ यवोदरम्॥४९.

A paramāṇu is the finest particle, then a mote of dust, earth-dust, the tip of a hair, a nit, a louse, and then a barley-corn.

क्रमादष्टगुणान्याहुर्यवानष्टौ तथाङ्गुलम् । षडङ्गुलं पदं तच्च वितस्तिर्द्विगुणं स्मृतम्॥४९.

Each is said to be eight times the previous; eight barley-corns make an aṅgula (finger-breadth), six aṅgulas make a pada (foot), and a vitasti (span) is remembered as twice that.

द्वे वितस्ती तथा हस्तो ब्राह्म्यतीर्थादिवेष्टनः । चतुर्हस्तं धनुर्दण्डो नाडिकार्युगमेव च॥४९.

Two vitastis make a hasta (cubit), measured from the Brāhmī tīrtha (wrist) to the tip; four hastas make a bow’s length, a staff, and also a nāḍikā (water-clock) measure.

धनुषां द्वे सहस्रे तु गव्यूतिस्तच्चतुर्गुणम् । प्रोक्तञ्च योजवनं प्राज्ञैः संख्यानार्थमिदं परम्॥४९.

Two thousand bows make a gavyūti, and four times that is called a yojana; the wise have declared this as the supreme reckoning for measurement.

चतुर्णामथ दुर्गाणां स्वसमुत्थानि त्रीणि तु । चतुर्थं कृत्रिमं दुर्गं ते चक्रुर्यत्नतस्तु वै॥४९.

Of the four types of fortresses, three arise naturally, while the fourth, the artificial fortress, they constructed with great effort.

पुरञ्च खेटकञ्चैव तद्वद् द्रोणीमुखं द्विज । शाखानगरकञ्चापि तथा कर्वटकं द्रमी॥४९.

A city, a small fortified town, likewise a settlement shaped like a mortar, O twice-born, a branch-town, and also a hamlet are mentioned.

ग्रामं सघोषविन्यासं तेषु चावसथान् पृथक् । सोत्सेधवप्रकारञ्च सर्वतः परिखावृतम्॥४९.

A village with its arrangement of cattle-pens, and separate dwellings within them, with raised embankments and surrounded on all sides by a moat.

योजनार्धार्धविष्कम्भमष्टभागायतं पुरम् । प्रागुदक्प्रवणं शस्तं शुद्धवंशबहिर्गमम्॥४९.

A city should have a diameter of half a yojana, and be one-eighth as wide as it is long, sloping eastward or northward, and with pure bamboo exits.

तदर्धेन तथा खेटं तत्पादेन च कर्वटम् । न्यूनं द्रोणीमुखं तस्मादन्तभागेन चोच्यते॥४९.

A small fortified town is half that size, a hamlet is a quarter of that, and a mortar-shaped settlement is less than that, being measured by its end portion.

प्राकारपरिखाहीनां पुरं खर्वटमुच्यते । शाखानगरकञ्चान्यन्मन्त्रिसामन्तभुक्तिमत्॥४९.

A city or hamlet without walls or moats is called a kharvaṭa; a branch-town is another type, inhabited by ministers, vassals, and landholders.

तथा शूद्रजनप्रायाः स्वसमृद्धिकृषीबलाः । क्षेत्रोपभोग्यभूमध्ये वसतिर्ग्रामसंज्ञिता॥४९.

Likewise, those mostly inhabited by Śūdras, who are prosperous in their own right and skilled in agriculture, and situated amid arable land, are called villages.

अन्यस्मान्नगरादेर्या कार्यमुद्दिश्य मानवैः । क्रियते वसतिः सा वै विज्ञेया वसतिर्नरैः॥४९.

Any other settlement established by people for a particular purpose, apart from cities and the like, should be known as a residence by men.

दुष्टप्रायो विना क्षेत्रैः परभूमिचरो बली । ग्राम एव द्रमीसंज्ञो राजवल्लभसंश्रयः॥४९.

A settlement called a hamlet, mostly lawless, without fields, and occupied by powerful men on foreign land, is a refuge for those favored by the king.

शकटारूढभाण्डैश्च गोपालैर्विपणं विना । गोसमूहैस्तथा घोषो यत्रेच्छाभूमिकेतनः॥४९.

A ghoṣa is where cowherds, with their goods loaded on carts, without a marketplace, and with herds of cows, dwell wherever they wish.

त एवं नगरादींस्तु कृत्वा वासार्थमात्मनः । निकेतनानि द्वन्द्वानां चक्रुरावसथाय वै॥४९.

Thus, having made cities and the rest for their own dwelling, they also built residences for pairs of families to live in.

गृहाकारा यथा पूर्वं तेषामासन्नहीरुहाः । तथा संस्मृत्य तत्सर्वं चक्रुर्वेश्मानि ताः प्रजाः॥४९.

As before, their houses were built near trees; remembering all this, those people constructed their dwellings accordingly.