AMI MATSUKURA
Toyo University amimatsukura@gmail.com
THE TEACHING OF TRANSMIGRATION IN THE MĀRKAṆḌEYAPURĀṆA: WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON ITS NARRATIVE STRUCTURE AND PARALLEL PASSAGES
Karmavipāka refers to the process in which actions in a previous life bear their fruits after death in various forms. The Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, one of the earliest extant Purāṇas, appears to attempt to systematically incorporate its teaching on karmavipāka in its broader doctrinal frame of narrative. In the dialogue between Sumati and his father (the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa chapters 10–39), in which the teaching on karmavipāka is contained, we find that the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa draws on passages from the Mahābhārata (the Anuśāsanaparvan) and Dharmaśāstras. By comparing the order in which these parallel passages are presented in this section of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, the proposed paper will argue that this part of the text is systematically constructed on the basis of the concept of transmigration as a cycle of life and death.