1. BRAHMA PURANA
Preliminaries
There was a forest known as Naimisharanya. The sages (maharshis) arranged for a sacrifice(yajna) in this forest and the ceremony went on for twelve years. Naimisharanya forest was awonderful place to arrange sacrifices in. The climate was pleasant. There were trees full of climate was pleasant. There were trees full of flowers and fruit. There was no shortage of food inthe forest, and animals, birds and sages lived thee happily.Many sages came to attend the sacrifice that had been arranged in Naimisharanya. With themwas Romaharshana (alternatively Lomaharshana), Veda Vyasa's disciple. Veda Vyasa hadinstructed this disciple of his in the knowledge of the Puranas. The assembled sages worshippedthe learned Romaharshana and said, "Please tell us the stories of the Puranas. Who created theuniverse, who is its preserver and who will destroy it? Please instruct us in all these mysteries".Romaharshana replied, "Many years ago, Daksha and the other sages had asked Brahma thesevery questions. I have learnt about Brahma's replies from my guru) teacher) Veda Vyasa. I willrelate to you what I know".In the beginning, there was water everywhere and the Brahman slept on this water in the form of Vishnu. Since water is called nara and since ayana means a bed, Vishnu is known as Narayana.In the water there emerged a golden egg. Brahma was born inside this egg. Since he created himself, he is called Svayambhu, born (bhu) by himself (svayam). For one whole year, Brahmalived inside the egg. He then split the egg into two and created heaven and the earth from the twoparts of the egg. Skies, directions, time, language and senses were created in both heaven andearth. From the powers of his mind, Brahma gave birth to seven great sages. Their names wereMarichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vashishtha. Brahma also created the godRudra and the sage सनत्कुमार
To continue with the process of creation, Brahma gave birth to a man and a woman from his ownbody. The man was named Svayambhuva Manu and the woman was named Shatarupa. Humansare descended from Manu. That is the reason they are known as manava. Manu and Shatarupahad three sons named Vira, Priyavrata and Uttanapada.Uttanapada's son was the great Dhruva. Dhruva performed very difficult meditation (tapasya) forthree thousand divine years. Brahma was so pleased at this that he granted Dhruva an eternalplace in the sky, near the constellation that is known as saptarshi or the seven sages. This is theconstellation Ursa Majoris and Dhruva is the pole Star.In Dhruva's line there was a king named Prachinavarhi. Prachinavarhi had ten sons, known as thePrachetas. These Prachetas were supposed to look after the world and rule over it, but they werenot interested in such mundane matters. They went off instead to perform tapasya under थे
ocean. The tapasya went on for ten thousand years. The upshot was that the earth had no rulerand began to suffer. People started to die and thick forests sprouted everywhere. So thick werethe forests that even the winds could not blow.News of this catastrophe reached the Prachetas. They were furious with the trees and createdwind (vayu) and fire (agni) from their mouths. The wind dried up the trees and the fire burntthem, so that, very soon, there were very few trees left on earth.Everyone was alarmed at the effects of the Prachetas anger. The moon-god Soma (or Chandra)came to the Prachetas with a beautiful woman and said, "Prachetas, please control your anger.You need someone to rule over the world so that you can concentrate on your tapasya. Thiswoman is named Marisha. Her son will rule over the world".The Prachetas agreed to this proposal and Daksha was born. The word praja means subject andthe word pati means master. Since Daksha ruled over the world and its subjects, Daksha came tobe known as Prajapati.The sages interrupted Romaharshana. They said, "Sage, we are completely confused. We haveheard that Daksha was born from Brahma's toe. And yet you have told us that Daksha was theson of the Prachetas. How is this possible?"Romaharshana replied, "There is no reason for bewilderment. Many Dakshas have been born torule over the world. One was born from Brahma's toe, yet another was the son of the Prachetas."
Daksha's Offspring
Daksha's wife was named Asikli and Asikli gave birth to five thousand sons. They were knownas the Haryashvas. The Haryashvas were destined to rule over the world. But the sage Naradawent to the Haryashvas and said, "How can you rule over the world if you don't even know whatthe world looks like? Are you familiar with its geography and its limits? First find out aboutthese things, before you contemplate ruling over the world."The Haryashvas went off to explore the world and never returned.Daksha and Asikli then had another thousand sons who were named the Shavalashvas. Naradatold them what he had told the Haryashvas and the Shavalashvas also went off to explore theworld and never returned.Daksha and Asikli were distressed that their children should disappear in this manner. Dakshablamed Narada for the instigation and proposed to kill him. But Brahma intervened andpersuaded Daksha to control his anger. This Daksha agreed to do, provided that his conditionswere met. "Brahma must marry my daughter Priya," he said. "And Narada must be born asPriya's son."These conditions were accepted. In fact, Daksha and Asikli had sixty daughters. (Elsewhere, theBrahma Purana mentions fifty daughters.) Ten of these daughters were married to the god Dharma and thirteen to the sage Kashyapa. Twenty-seven daughters were married to Soma orChandra. The remaining daughters were married to the sages Arishtanemi, Vahuputra, Angirasaand Krishashva.The ten daughters who were married to the god Dharma were named Arundhati, Vasu, Yami,Lamba, Bhanu, Marutvati, Sankalpa, Muhurta. Sadhya and Vishva. Arundhati's children were theobjects (vishaya) of the world. Vasu's children were the eight gods known as the Vasus. Theirnames were Apa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhara, Salila, Anala, Pratyusha and Prabhasa. Anala's son wasKumara. Because Kumara was brought up by goddesses known as the Krittikas, he came to becalled Kartikeya. Prabhasa's son was Vishvakarma. Vishvakarma was skilled in architecture andthe making of jewelry. He became the architect of the gods.Sadhya's children were the gods known as Sadhyadevas and Vishva's children were the godsknown as Vishvadervas. The twenty-seven daughters of Daksha who were married to Soma areknown as the nakshatras (stars).As you have already been told, Kashyapa married thirteen of Daksha's daughters. Their nameswere Aditi, Diti, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Khasa, Surabhi, Vinata. Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ila, Kadruand Muni.Aditi's sons were the twelve gods known as the adityas. Their names were Vishnu, Shakra.Aryama, Dhata, Vidhata, Tvashta, Pusha, Vivasvana, Savita, MitraVaruna, Amsha and Bhaga.Diti's sons were the daityas (demons). They were named Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, andamongst their descendants were several other powerful daityas liked Bali and Banasura. Diti alsohad a daughter named Simhika who was married to a danava (demon) named Viprachitti. Theiroffspring's were terrible demons like Vatapi, Namuchi, Ilvala, Maricha and the nivatakavachas.The hundred sons of Danu came to be known as danavas. The danavas were thus cousins to thedaityas and also to the adityas. In the danava line were born demons like the poulamas andkalakeyas.Arishta's sons were the gandharvas (singers of heaven). Surasa gave birth to the snakes (sarpa).Khasa's children were the yakshas (demi-gods who were the companions of Kubera, the god of wealth) and the rakshasas (demons). Surabhi's descendants were cows and buffaloes.Vinata had two sons named Aruna and Garuda. Garuda became the king of the birds. Tamra hassix daughters. From these daughters were born owls, eagles, vultures, crows, water-fowl, horses,camels and donkeys.Krodhavasha had fourteen thousand children known as nagas (snakes). Ila gave birth to trees,creepers, shrubs and bushes. Kadru's sons were also known as nagas or snakes. Among the moreimportant of Kadru's sons were Ananta, Vasuki, Takshaka and Nahusha.Muni gave birth to the apsaras (dancers of heaven). Diti's children (daityas) and Auditi's children(adityas) continually fought amongst themselves. On one particular occasion, the gods succeed in
killing many of the demons. Thirsting for revenge, Diti began to pray to her husband, Kashyapathat she might given birth to a son who would kill Indra, the king of the gods.Kashyapa found it difficult to refuse his wife outright. "All right", he said. "You have to bear theson in your womb for a hundred years. And throughout this period, you will have indeed killIndira. But if you do not observe these instructions to the letter, your desire will not be satisfied."Diti resolved to do as her husband had bidden her. But Indra had got to know about Diti's resolveand was waiting for an opportunity to save himself. There was an occasion when, tired after herprayers. Diti went to sleep without first washing her feet. This was an unclean act and it gaveIndra the required opportunity. He adopted a miniscule form and entered Diti's womb. With hisweapon vajra, he sliced up the baby inside the womb into seven parts. The baby naturally beganto cry at the pain.Indra kept on saying, "ma ruda," that is, "don't cry." But the bay, or rather its seven parts, wouldnot listen. Indra thereupon sliced up each of the seven parts into seven more sections, so thatthere were forty-nine sections in all. When these forty-nine sections were born, they came toknown as the Maruts, from the words that Indra had addressed them. Since Diti had not beenable to adhere to the conditions her husband had set, the Maruts did not kill Indra. They insteadbecame Indra's followers or companions, and were treated as gods.
Prithu
In Dhruva's line there was a king named Anga, Anga was religious and followed the righteouspath. But unfortunately, Anga's son Vena inherited none of the good qualities of his father.Vena's mother was Sunitha and she happened to be the daughter of Mrityu. Mrityu was notoriousfor his evil ways and deeds. Vena spent a lot of time with his maternal grandfather and picked upthese evil characteristics.Vena gave up the religion that was laid down in the Vedas and stopped all yajnas. He instructedhis subjects that he alone was to be worshiped.The sages led by Marichi came to Vena to try and persuade him to mend his ways. But Vena wasin no mood to listen. He insisted that there was no one equal to him in the whole universe.The sages realized that Vena was a lost cause. They physically caught hold of Vena and began toknead his right thigh. From this kneading thee emerged a horrible looking creature. It was adwarf and its complexion, was extremely dark. The sage Atri was so aghast at the dwarf'sappearance that he blurted out, "nishida", which means "sit". From this, the dwarf came to beknown as nishada. The race of nishadas became hunters and fishermen, and lived in the Vindhyamountains. From them were also descended uncivilized races like Tusharas and Tunduras.The evil that was in Vena's body and mind came out with the emergence of the nishada.When the sages began to knead Vena's right arm, Prithu emerged. He shone like a flaming fireand his energy lit up the four directions. He held a bow in his hand and he was clad in beautifularmour. As soon as Prithu was born, Vena died.All the rivers and the oceans arrived with their waters and their jewels to anoint Prithu as theking. The gods and the sages also came for the coronation. Brahma himself crowned Prithu theking of the earth. He also took the opportunity to apportion out the lordships of other parts of theuniverse. Soma was appointed lord over creepers, herbs, starts (nakshatras), planets (grahas),sacrifices, meditation (tapasya) and over the first of the four classes (brahmanas). Varunabecame lord of the oceans, Kubera of all the kings, Vishnu of the adityas, Agni of vasus, Dakshaof all Prahlada of daityas and danavas, Yama of the pritris (ancestors), Shiva of yakshas,rakshasas and pishachas (ghosts), and Himalaya of the mountains.The ocean (samudra) was made the lord of all rivers. Chitraratha of gandharvas, Vasuki of nagas,Takshaka of sarpas, Garuda of birds, the tiger of deer, Airavata of elephants, Ucchaihshrava of horses, the bull of cows and the ashvattha tree (a banyan) of all trees. Brahma also appointedfour overlords (dikapalas) for the four directions. To the east there was Sudhanva, to the southShankhapada, to the west Ketumana and to the north Hiranyaroma.Prithu was a king who ruled the earth well. During his reign, the earth was laden with foodgrains.The cows were full of milk and the subjects were happy. To glorify King Prithu, the sagesperformed a sacrifice and from this sacrifice there emerged two races known as the sutas and themagadhas should sing praises in honor of Prithu."But what praise will we sing?" asked the sutas and the magadhas. "Prithu is still young. He hasnot done much that can be praised"."That may be true," replied the sages. "But he will do wonderous deeds in the future. Singpraises of those wonderful deeds. We will tell you about them."Having learnt of these future deeds from the sages, the sutas and the magadhas began to composesongs and chant praises in honor of Prithu. These stories were related throughout the earth. Someof Prithu's subjects heard these stories and came to see Prithu. "King," they said. "We have heardof your great deeds. But we find it difficult to make a living. Please indicate to us our habitationson earth. And tell us where we may be able to get the food we need for subsistence."King Prithu picked up his bow and arrow. He decided to kill the earth, since the earth was notyielding foodgrains to his subjects. The earth adopted the form of a cow and began to flee. Butwherever the earth went, Prithu followed with his bow and arrow. He followed the earth to theheaven and to the underworld.Finally, in desperation, the earth started to pray to Prithu. "King," she said, "please control youranger. I am a woman. Killing me will only mean a sin for you. Besides, what purpose will killingme serve? Your subjects will then be without a place to live in. There must be some other way of ensuring that your subjects can make a living The earth then herself offered a solution and King Prithu did her bidding. With his bow, heleveled out the earth. The plains could now be used for villages and cities and for agriculture andanimal husbandry. The plains could now be used for villages and cities and for agriculture andanimal husbandry. The mountains were gathered together in select places, instead of beinglittered over whole earth. Earlier, Prithu's subjects had lived off fruits and roots. Now Prithumilked the earth (in her form of a cow) and obtained the seeds of food grains on which people could live. Because of Prithu's deeds, the earth came to be known as prithivi.
A manvantara is an era. There are four smaller eras (yugas) and their names are Satya or KritaYuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Each cycle of Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga,Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga is called a mahayuga. A mahayuga comprises of 12,000 years of the gods, or equivalently, 4320,000 years for human. 71 mahayugas constitute a manvantara and14 manvantaras constitute a cycle (kalpa). One kalpa is one of Brahma's days and the universe isdestroyed at the end of a Kalpa.Each manvantara is ruled over by a Manu. In the present kalpa, six manvantaras have alreadypassed and the names of the six Manus who ruled were Svayambhuva, Svarochisha, Uttama,Tamasa, Raivata and Chakshusha. The name of the seventh Manu, who rules over the seventhmanvantara of the present kalpa, is Vaivasvata.The titles of the seven great sages (saptarshi) as well as the tile of Indra change from manvantarato manvantara. The gods also change.In the present vaivasvata manvantara, the seven great sages are Atri, Vashishtha, Kashyapa,Goutama, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra and Jamadagni. The gods now are the sadhyas, the rudras,the vishwadevas, the vasus, the maruts, the adityas and the two ashvinis.There will be seven Manus in the future before the universe is destroyed. Five of these Manuswill be known as Savarni Manus. The remaining two will be called Bhoutya and Rouchya.
The Sun and the Solar Dynasty
You have probably forgotten by now that Kashyapa and Aditi had a son named Vivasvana. Thiswas the sun god, also known as Surya or Martanda.Surya was married to Samjna, Vishvakarma's daughter. They had two sons. The fist son wasVaivasvata Manu and the second son was Yama or Shradhadeva, the god of death. Yama had atwin sister named Yamuna. The sun's energy was so strong that Samjna could not bear to look ather husband. Through her powers, she created an image from her own body that looked exactlylike her. This image was called Chhaya (shadow).
Samjna told Chhaya, "I cannot bear the energy of my husband, I am going off to my father'shouse. Stay here, pretend to be Samjna and look after my children. Under no circumstances tellanyone, certainly not my husband, that your are not Samjna.""I will do as you have asked me to," replied Chhaya. "But the moment someone curses me orpulls me by the hair, I shall be forced to reveal the truth."Samjna went to her father Vishvakarma kept asking her to return to her husband. But this Samjnarefused to do. Instead, she went to the land known as Uttara Kuru and started to live there as amare.Meanwhile, Surya, who had not realized that Samjna had been replaced by Chhaya, had two sonsthrough Chhaya. They were named Savarni Manu and Shani (Saturn). As soon as her ownchildren were born, Chhaya no longer displayed as much of love for Samjna's children as sheused to do. Vaivasvata Manu was a quiet sort of person and he ignored the implied neglect. ButYama was not the tolerant. Besides, he was also younger. He raised his leg to kick Chhaya. Atthis, Chhaya cursed Yama that his legs would fall off.Yama went and complained to Surya. " I have not really kicked her," he said. "I only threatenedto. And does a mother ever curse her children?""I can't undo the curse, " replied Surya. "At best, I can reduce its severity. Your legs will notactually fall off. Some of the flesh from your legs will fall off onto the earth and create worms.Thereby, you will be freed of your curse."But nevertheless, Surya felt that there was some truth in Yama's asking whether a mother wouldever curse her children. He taxed Chhaya with the truth, but Chhaya would not reveal anythingSurya then grasped her by the hair and threatened to curse her. Since her conditions were nowviolated, Chhaya blurted out the truth.In an extremely angry mood, Surya dashed off to Vishvakarma's house. Vishvakarma tried tocool him down. "it is all because of your exercises energy that this has happened, exclaimedVishvakarma. "If you permit, I will shave off some of the extra energy. Then Samjna will be ableto look at you."Surya agreed to this proposition. With the shaved off energy, Vishvakarma manufacturedVishnu's chakra (a weapon like a bladed discus).Surya found out that Samjna was in Uttara Kuru in the form of a mare. He joined her there in theform of a horse. As horse, they had two sons named Nasatya and Dasra. Since ashva meanshorse, the sons were also known as the two Ashvinish and became the physicians of the gods.Surya and Samjna then gave up their equine forms and lived happily ever after
Vaivasvata Manu's Children:
Vaivasvata Manu has no children and he arranged for a sacrifice so that he might have a son.Nine sons were born as a result of this sacrifice. Their names were Ikshvaku, Nabhaga, Dhrishta,Sharyati, Narishyanta, Pramashu, Rishta, Karusha and Prishadhra. Manu also made an offeringto the two gods Mitra and Varuna. As a result of this offering, a daughter named Ila was born.Budha was the son of Chandra, and Budha and Ila had a son named Pururva. Subsequently,thanks to a boon conferred on her by Mitra and Varuna. Ila became a man named Sudyumna.Sudyumna's sons were Utkala, Gaya and Vinatashva. Utkala ruled in Orissa, Gaya in the regionthat is also called Gaya, and Vinatashva in the west.Sudyumna was not entitled to rule since he had earlier been a woman. He lived in the city knownas Pratishthana. Pururava inherited this later on.When Vaivasvata Manu died, his ten sons divided up the earth amongst themselves, Ikshvakuruled in the central regions. He had a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was named Vikukshi.Vikukshi came to be known as Shashada. Thereby hangs a tale.Ikshvaku wanted to organize a sacrifice and he sent his son Vikukshi to the forest to fetch somemeat for the sacrifice. While hunting for game, Vikukshi felt very hungry and ate up some of themeat. This was a sacrilege and the sage Vashishtha advised Ikshvaku to banish Vikukshi fromhis kingdom. Because the meat that he had eaten had been the meat of a rabbit (shashaka),Vikukshi came to be known as Shashada.But after Ikshvaku died, Vikukshi returned to his father's kingdom and began to rule there. Thiswas the kingdom of Ayodhya. One of Vikukshi's sons was Kakutshta, and Rama of Ramayanafame was born in this line.
