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Markandeya (Sanskrit: मार्कण्‍डेय) is an ancient rishi (sage) from the Hindu tradition. He is celebrated as a devotee of both Shiva and Vishnu and is mentioned in a number of stories from the Puranas. He is venerated within both Vaishnava and Shaivite traditions.

Contents 1 Rescued by Lord Shiva 1.1 Eternal life 2 From the Bhagavata Purana 3 See also 4 Reference 5 External links

One legend relates the story of how Shiva protected Markandeya from the clutches of death (Yama):^{[citation needed]}

Mrikandu Munivar worshipped Shiva and sought from him the boon of begetting a son. As a result he was given the choice of either a gifted son, but with a short life on earth or a child of low intelligence but with a long life. Mrikandu Munivar chose the former, and was blessed with Markandeya, an exemplary son, destined to die at the age of 16.

Markandeya grew up to be a great devotee of Shiva and on the day of his destined death he continued his worship of Shiva in his form of Shivalingam. The messengers of Yama, the god of death were unable to take away his life because of his great devotion and continual worship of Shiva. Yama then came himself in person to take Markandeya's life away and sprung his noose around the young sage's neck. By accident of fate the noose mistakenly landed around the Shivalingam, and out of it, Shiva emerged in all his fury attacking Yama for his act of aggression. After defeating Yama in battle to the point of 'death', Shiva then revived him, under the condition that the devout youth would live forever.

Another story which deals with Markandeya's long life gives an account of how he lived past the death of 'Earth' (the previous world cycle) and watched the sun grow to the size of a red giant, killing 'Earth' and blowing a death wind to the other celestial planets, which he explained to others living in the next world cycle. This can be correlated with astrophysics to describe how our Sun would go nova in 5 billion years, and in a larger context, the steady-state theory of the Universe. (1)

A tale from the Bhagavata Purana states that when the earth was about to be engulfed by water, Markandeya prayed to Vishnu to rescue him. Vishnu appeared in the form of a child floating on a leaf, and declared to the sage that he was Time and Death. He requested the sage to enter into his mouth and save himself from the surging water. The sage entered inside the mouth of Vishnu, and saw inside Vishnu the entire cosmos, all the gods and deities. The sage came out after some time, Vishnu was still floating seated on the leaf.

• Narada
• Prahlada
• Four Kumaras
• Hindu calendar

• Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dallapiccola

(1) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism, Chapter 1, pg 13

• Markandeya's Prayers from the Bhagavata Purana
• Rescue of Saint Markandeya by Lord Shiva

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