When the conception was seven fortnights old, she went to Kurukshetra. She married Drona, and conceived in due course of time. She game birth to a daughter, and you should have guessed it - who was none other than the cursed apsara, Vapu, born as Tarkshi. After Vidyarupa's death at the hands of Kandhara, she agreed to become his wife, and lived with him in the form of a bird - remember that Kandhara was a bird. Now, Vidyarupa's wife was Madanika, who was Menaka's daughter. Kanka was killed by a rakshasa named Vidyarupa and Kandhara killed him to avenge his brother's death. Unable to decide, Narada suggested, again true to form, that the best dancer would be she who was successful in disturbing Durvasa's penance! As expected, one apsara, Vapu, was able to disturb the sage's austerities, and was promptly cursed to be born as a bird!Īnd how did that come to happen? It so happens that among the descendants of Garuda were two brothers, Kanka and Kandhara.
True to form, Narada's challenge threw up a veritable fight among the apsaras. And who where these birds? Why did they come about to be born as birds? And how were they qualified to know these answers? To take the story forward, the Markandeya Purana takes us back to a time when Narada visited Indraloka and wanted to see the best dancer among the apsaras dance for him. These birds were the sons of Drona (no, not that Drona) who Markandeya considered wise enough to answer Jaimini. Markandeya would not answer since it was not the time for speaking, but he directed Jaimini towards some birds. In a manner that some may find similar to the style of the Mahabharata, and which needs some elaboration, these questions are asked of Markandeya by Jaimini, who was one of Vyasa's disciples and to whom Vyasa taught the Samaveda. With those four questions begins the Markandeya Purana. Those maddening, unending, unanswerable questions about the Mahabharata that anyone and everyone would have asked - why did the nirguna Janardana assume a human form? Why did Droupadi have to have five husbands? Why did Balarama have to travel to the tirthas to atone for the sin of killing a brahmana? And why did the sons of Droupadi have to die the death they did? Remember that they were killed after the war, in their sleep, by the son of Drona. The most obvious one is that it begins with questions about the Mahabharata. For more reasons than one, I like the Markandeya Purana a lot. It is nowhere as long as the Skanda Purana (81,000 shlokas) or the Padma Purana (55,000).
S far as Puranas go, the Markandeya Purana is the shortest Puranas.
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