DIVINE INFORMATION 2-23 MATSYA PURANA PART… 3
Creation In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. There was only darknessand the divine essence (brahman). It is impossible to describe the brahman, ithas no traits that can be described. When the time came for creation to start, the brahman removed the darkness and divided itself intothree. These three parts came to be known as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The first object thatwas created was water and Vishnu slept on this water. Since nara means waterand ayana means resting-place, Vishnu is accordingly also known as Narayana. In this water next appeared a golden (hiranya) egg (anda). The egg shone withthe radiance of a thousand suns. Inside the egg, Brahma created himself. Since he effectively created(bhuva) himself (svayam), Brahma is also known as Svayambhuva. Theegg, you will remember, was golden. Garbha means womb, and since Brahma wasborn inside a golden egg, he is also known as Hiranyagarbha. For a thousand years Brahma stayed inside the egg. He then split the shell into two and emerged out.Heaven (svarga) was made from one half of the shell and the earth from theremaining half. All the land masses, the oceans, the rivers and themountains, had been inside the egg in embryonic form. Brahma made themmanifest. The sun was also born. Since he was the first (adi)being to be born, he is known as Aditya. (The name Aditya is more commonly explained as characterisingthe offspring of Aditi, from whom all the gods were descended. The MatsyaPurana refers to this later.) The word mrita means dead. Since the sun was bornwhen the egg (anda) died, the sun was also known as Martanda. (There is an alternative explanationof the name Martanda, as given, for example, in the Markandeya Purana. Thisagain relates to the sun being born as the son of Aditi and the sage Kashyapa.) Brahma’s first act was to meditate. It was while he was meditating that the Vedas, the Puranas and theother shastras (sacred texts) emerged from Brahma’s mouth. Ten sons were also born to Brahma. Created from Brahma’s mental powers, theyall became sages. Their names were Marichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Pracheta,Vashishtha, Bhrigu and Narada. There were others too who were born. Daksha was born from Brahma’s right toe. And the god Dharmawas born from his chest. But for further creation to continue, it was essential that created beingsshould have proper mothers and fathers. Brahma accordingly created two beingsfrom his body, one was male and the other was female. The male half was named Svayambhuva Manu and the female halfwas named Shatarupa. (This is the customary account in the otherPuranas as well. But the Matsya Purana contradicts itself immediately andstates that Svyambhuva Manu was the son of Shatarupa and Brahma.) Shatarupa is also referred to as Savitri, Gayatri, Sarasvati or Brahmani.Since she had been born from Brahma’s body, she was like Brahma’s daughter. Infact, Vashishtha and the other sages who were Brahma’s sons welcomed her astheir sister. But Shatarupa was so beautiful that Brahma fell in love with herand wished to marry her. Shatarupa circled Brahma and showed her respects to him. When she stood infront of him. Brahma gazed upon her with the face that he had. But when shewent and stood behind him, Brahma could see her no longer. (Brahma, obviously,did not want to turn his head.) Another head with another face thereforesprouted behind Brahma’s first head so that he might be able to see Shatarupa.In similar fashion, a head sprouted to Brahma’s first head so that he might beable to see Shatarpa. In similar fashion, a head sprouted to Brahma’s right ananother one to his left. And when Shatarupa rose above him, a head sproutedtowards the top as well. Thusit was that Brahma came to have five heads and five faces. Brahma married Shatarupa and they lived together as man and wife for a hundredyears. Their son was named Svayambhuva Manu. Remember that this story was being told by Vishnu to Vaivasvata Manu. Hearing the account, Vaivasvata Manu exclaimed."But what you have just said is truly amazing. How could Brahma have married his own daughter? Surely that is asin." "Perhaps," replied Vishnu, "but it is not for humans to judgethe actions of the gods. Howcould creation proceed if Brahma did not marry Shatarupa?’ To continue with the account of the creation,Brahma created a sage named Sanatakumara and Shiva. (It is usually stated that,in addition to the sages who were created earlier, Brahma created four moresons through his mental powers. Their names were Sananda, Sanaka, Sanatana andSanatakumara, and they became sages.) Brahma asked Shiva to help him in the act of creation. "Why don’t youcreate some beings as well?’ asked Brahma. Shiva complied andstarted to create. But all the beings that he created were just like him inappearance. That is , they were all immortal. "What are you doing?" asked Brahma. "Don’t create immortalbeings. Create mortal ones instead." "That I refuse to do," retorted Shiva. "If I am to create, Ishall create only immortals." "Please do not create then," requested Brahma. "I will take careof creation myself." Svayambhuva Manu performed very difficult tapsaya and obtained a wife named Anati. (In other Puranas,Svayambhuva Manu is stated to have married Shatarupa.) Svayambhuva Manuand Ananti had two sons named Priyavrata and Uttanapada. >From Uttanapada was descended Prachinavarhi.Prachinavarahi married Savarna, >the daugther of the ocean, and they had tensons. These sons were known as the >Prachetas. The ten Prachetas married a womannamed Marisha. That is, all of >them had the same wife. Daksha was the son ofthe Prachetas and Marisha. Matsya purana Part 4. DakshasDescendants Daksha married Panchanjani.(The more usual name, as given in the other Puranas, is Asikli or Prasuti.Prasuti is said to have been the daughter of Svayhambhuva Manu and Shatarupa.Asikli was the daughter of Virana and is also referred to as Vairini.) Daksha and Panchajani had onethousand sons. These were known as the Haryakshas (alternatively,Haryashvas). Daksha asked his sons to create more living beings. But the sage Narada came and told the Haryakshas, "You can’t possiblycreate living beings unless you know where they are going to live. Have youexplored the universe that your creations are going to populate? Why don’t youstart out on a voyage of discovery?" The Haryakshas did this and have never been heard of since. They did notreturn. Daksha and Panchajani now had another thousand sons. These were name theShavalas. (The more usual name is the Shavalshvas.) Narada asked the Shavalasalso to explore the universe and they too disappeared. Sixty daughters were next born to Daksha andPanchajani. (The accounts of thePuranas are not consistent about the number of Daksha’s daughters. Sometimesthe number is given as sixty, sometimes as fifty and sometimes as twenty-four.) Ten of these daughers weremarried to the god Dharma, twenty-seven were married to the moon-god Chandra,and thirteen were married to the sage Kashyapa. The remaining daughters weremarried to various other sages. My note- One daughter Satimarried to Lord Siva is not found here. The thirteen daughters who were married to Kashyapa were named Aditi, Diti,Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ira, Kadru, Vishvaand Muni, (The names of Kashyapa’s wives, particularly the minor ones,sometimes vary from Purana to Purana.) Aditi’s sons were known asthe adityas. There were twelve of them and they were named Indra, Dhata, Bhaga,Tvashta, Mitra, Varuna, Yama, Vivasvana, Savita, Pusha, Amshumana and Vishnu.These were the gods. (Yama is more commonly regarded as having been the son ofthe sun-god and his wife Samjna.) Diti’s sons were the daityas (demons). There were two of them, namedHiranyakshipu and Hiranyaksha. Their sons also came to be known as the daityas.Hiranyaksha’s sons were Uluka. Shakuni, Bhutasantapana and Mahanabha. (Morecommonly, Hiranyaksha’s son is said to have been Andhaka. In some accounts, Hiranyakshadid not have a son and Andhaka was adopted as a son.) Hiranyakshipu’s sons werePrahlada, Anuhlada, Samhlada and Hlada. Prahlada’s son was Virochana, Virochana’sson was Vali, and Vali’s son was Vanasura. Danu had a hundred sons. These and their descendants were known as the danavas(demons). Chief among the hundred sons was Viprachitti. Maya, the archietect ofthe demons, was descended from this line. Tamra had six daughters. These were the mothers of the birds and of goats,horse, sheep, camels and donkeys. Vinata had two sons, Aruna and Garuda. Aruna’s sons were Sampati and Jatayu.(You may be familiar with these names fromt he Ramayana.) Both Surasa and Kadru gave birth to snakes (nagas or sarpas). Krodhavasha was the mother of rakshasas (demons); Surabhi of cows andbuffaloes; Muni of apsaras (dancers of heaven); Arishta of gandharvas (singersof heaven); Ira of trees and herbs; and Vishva of yakashas (demi-gods). OriginallyPosted by: "DILIP KUMAR RAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili in 8-2010 I will continue in next posting. Posted by R. Gopalakrishnan on 22-11-2021 togoogle groups. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/929367076.2423698.1637563156419%40mail.yahoo.com.
