Daksha and his progeny

OM! Glory to Vasudeva! Victory be to you, Pundarikaksha; adoration be to you, Vishvabhavana; glory be to you, Hrishikesha, Mahapurusha, and Purvaja.

Maitreya said,

“Daksha, as I have formerly heard, was born from the right thumb of Brahma: tell me, great Muni, how he was regenerate as the son of the Prachetasas. Considerable perplexity also arises in my mind, how he, who, as the son of Marisha, was the grandson of Soma, could be also his father-in-law.”

Parashara said,

“Birth and death are constant in all creatures: Rishis and sages, possessing divine vision, are not perplexed by this. Daksha and the other eminent Munis are present in every age, and in the interval of destruction cease to be: of this the wise man entertains no doubt. Amongst them of old there was neither senior nor junior; rigorous penance and acquired power were the sole causes of any difference of degree amongst these more than human beings.”

Maitreya said,

“Narrate to me, venerable Brahman, at length, the birth of the gods, Titans, Gandharvas, serpents, and goblins.”

Parashara said,

“In what manner Daksha created living creatures, as commanded by Brahma, you shall hear. In the first place he willed into existence the deities, the Rishis, the quiristers of heaven, the Titans, and the snake-gods. Finding that his will-born progeny did not multiply themselves, he determined, in order to secure their increase, to establish sexual intercourse as the means of multiplication. For this purpose he espoused Ashikni, the daughter of the patriarch Virana, a damsel addicted to devout practices, the eminent supportress of the world. By her the great father of mankind begot five thousand mighty sons, through whom he expected the world should be peopled. Narada, the divine Rishi, observing them desirous to multiply posterity, approached them, and addressed them in a friendly tone:

“Illustrious Haryashwas, it is evident that your intention is to beget posterity; but first consider this: why should you, who, like fools, know not the middle, the height, and depth of the world, propagate offspring? When your intellect is no more obstructed by interval, height, or depth, then how, fools, shall you not all behold the term of the universe?”

Having heard the words of Narada, the sons of Daksha dispersed themselves through the regions, and to the present day have not returned; as rivers that lose themselves in the ocean come back no more.

The Haryashwas having disappeared, the patriarch Daksha begot by the daughter of Virana a thousand other sons. They, who were named Shavalashwas, were desirous of engendering posterity, but were dissuaded by Narada in a similar manner. They said to one another,

"What the Muni has observed is perfectly just. We must follow the path that our brothers have travelled, and when we have ascertained the extent of the universe, we will multiply our race."

Accordingly they scattered themselves through the regions, and, like rivers flowing into the sea, they returned not again. Henceforth brother seeking for brother disappears, through ignorance of the products of the first principle of things. Daksha the patriarch, on finding that all these his sons had vanished, was incensed, and denounced an imprecation upon Narada.

Then, Maitreya, the wise patriarch, it is handed down to us, being anxious to people the world, created sixty daughters of the daughter of Virana; ten of whom he gave to Dharma, thirteen to Kashyapa, and twenty-seven to Soma, four to Arishtanemi, two to Bahuputra, two to Angiras, and two to Krishashwa. I will tell you their names.

Arundhati, Vasu, Yami, Lamba, Bhanu, Marutwati, Sankalpa, Muhurta, Sadhya, and Vishwa were the ten wives of Dharma, and bore him the following progeny. The sons of Vishwa were the Vishwadevas; and the Sadhyas, those of Sadhya. The Maruts, or winds, were the children of Marutwati; the Vasus, of Vasu. The Bhanus (or suns) of Bhanu; and the deities presiding over moments, of Muhurta. Ghosha was the son of Lamba (an arc of the heavens); Nagavithi (the milky way), the daughter of Yami (night). The divisions of the earth were born of Arundhati; and Sankalpa (pious purpose), the soul of all, was the son of Sankalpa. The deities called Vasus, because, preceded by fire, they abound in splendour and might, are severally named Apa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhava (fire), Anila (wind), Anala (fire), Pratyusha (day-break), and Prabhasa (light). The four sons of Apa were Vaitandya, Shrama (weariness), Shranta (fatigue), and Dhur (burden). Kala (time), the cherisher of the world, was the son of Dhruva. The son of Soma was Varchas (light), who was the father of Varchaswi (radiance). Dhava had, by his wife Manohara (loveliness), Dravina, Hutahavyavaha, Shshira, Prana, and Ramana. The two sons of Anila (wind), by his wife Shiva, were Manojava (swift as thought) and Avijnatagati (untraceable motion). The son of Agni (fire), Kumara, was born in a clump of Shara reeds: his sons were Shakha, Vishakha, Naigameya, and Prishthaja. The offspring of the Krittikas was named Kartikeya. The son of Pratyusha was the Rishi named Devala, who had two philosophic and intelligent sons. The sister of Vachaspati, lovely and virtuous, Yogasiddha, who pervades the wholes world without being devoted to it, was the wife of Prabhasa, the eighth of the Vasus, and bore to him the patriarch Viswakarma, the author of a thousand arts, the mechanist of the gods, the fabricator of all ornaments, the chief of artists, the constructor of the self-moving chariots of the deities, and by whose skill men obtain subsistence. Ajaikapad, Ahirbradhna, and the wise Rudra Twashtri, were born; and the self-born son of Twashtri was also the celebrated Vishwarupa. There are eleven well-known Rudras, lords of the three worlds, or Hara, Bahurupa, Tryambaka, Aparajita, Vrishakapi, Sambhu, Kaparddi, Raivata, Mrigavyadha, Sharva, and Kapali; but there are a hundred appellations of the immeasurably mighty Rudras.

The daughters of Daksha who were married to Kashyapa were Aditi, Diti, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ida, Khasa, Kadru, and Muni; whose progeny I will describe to you. There were twelve celebrated deities in a former Manvantara, called Tushitas, who, upon the approach of the present period, or in the reign of the last Manu, Chakshusha, assembled, and said to one another,

"Come, let us quickly enter into the womb of Aditi, that we may be born in the next Manvantara, for thereby we shall again enjoy the rank of gods."

And accordingly they were born the sons of Kashyapa, the son of Marichi, by Aditi, the daughter of Daksha; thence named the twelve Adityas; whose appellations were respectively, Vishnu, Shakra, Aryaman, Dhuti, Twashtri, Pushan, Vivaswat, Savitri, Mitra, Varuna, Ansha, and Bhaga. These, who in the Chakshusha Manvantara were the gods called Tushitas, were called the twelve Adityas in the Manvantara of Vaivaswata.

The twenty-seven daughters of the patriarch who became the virtuous wives of the moon were all known as the nymphs of the lunar constellations, which were called by their names, and had children who were brilliant through their great splendour. The wives of Arishtanemi bore him sixteen children. The daughters of Bahuputra were the four lightnings. The excellent Pratyangirasa Richas were the children of Angiras, descended from the holy sage: and the deified weapons of the gods were the progeny of Krishashwa.

These classes of thirty-three divinities are born again at the end of a thousand ages, according to their own pleasure; and their appearance and disappearance is here spoken of as birth and death: but, Maitreya, these divine personages exist age after age in the same manner as the sun sets and rises again.

It has been related to us, that Diti had two sons by Kashyapa, named Hiranyakashipu and the invincible Hiranyaksha: she had also a daughter, Shinka, the wife of Viprachitti. Hiranyakashipu was the father of four mighty sons, Anuhlada, Hlada, the wise Prahlada, and the heroic Sanhlada, the augmentor of the Daitya race.

Amongst these, the illustrious Prahlada, looking on all things with indifference, devoted his whole faith to Janardana. The flames that were lighted by the king of the Daityas consumed not him, in whose heart Vasudeva was cherished; and all the earth trembled when, bound with bonds, he moved amidst the waters of the ocean. His firm body, fortified by a mind engrossed by Achyuta, was unwounded by the weapons hurled on him by order of the Daitya monarch; and the serpents sent to destroy him breathed their venomous flames upon him in vain. Overwhelmed with rocks, he yet remained unhurt; for he never forgot Vishnu, and the recollection of the deity was his armour of proof. Hurled from on high by the king of the Daityas, residing in Swarga, earth received him unharmed. The wind sent into his body to wither him up was itself annihilated by him, in whom Madhusudana was present. The fierce elephants of the spheres broke their tusks, and vailed their pride, against the firm breast which the lord of the Daityas had ordered them to assault. The ministrant priests of the monarch were baffled in all their rites for the destruction of one so steadily attached to Govinda: and the thousand delusions of the fraudulent Shambara, counteracted by the discus of Krishna, were practised without success. The deadly poison administered by his father's officers he partook of unhesitatingly, and without its working any visible change; for he looked upon the world with mind undisturbed, and, full of benignity, regarded all things with equal affection, and as identical with himself. He was righteous; an inexhaustible mine of purity and truth; and an unfailing model for all pious men.

The sons of Sanhrada, the son of Hiranyakashipu, were Ayushman, Shibi, and Bashkala. Prahlada had a son named Virochana; whose son was Bali, who had a hundred sons, of whom Bana was the eldest.

Hiranyaksha also had many sons, all of whom were Daityas of great prowess; Jharjhara, Shakuni, Bhutasantapana, Mahanabha, the mighty-armed and the valiant Taraka. These were the sons of Diti.

The children of Kashyapa by Danu were Dwimurddha, Shankara, Ayomukha, Shankushiras, Kapila, Shambara, Ekachakra, and another mighty Taraka, Swarbhanu, Vrishaparvan, Puloman, and the powerful Viprachitti; these were the renowned Danavas, or sons of Danu.

Swarbhanu had a daughter named Prabha; and Sharmishtha was the daughter of Vrishaparvan, as were Upadanavi and Hayashira. Vaishwanara had two daughters, Puloma and Kalika, who were both married to Kashyapa, and bore him sixty thousand distinguished Danavas, called Paulomas and Kalakanjas, who were powerful, ferocious, and cruel.

The sons of Viprachitti by Sinhika (the sister of Hiranyakashipu) were Vyansha, Shalya the strong, Nabha the powerful, Vatapi, Namuchi, Ilwala, Khasrima, Anjaka, Naraka, and Kalanabha, the valiant Swarbhanu, and the mighty Vaktrayodhi. These were the most eminent Danavas, through whom the race of Danu was multiplied by hundreds and thousands through succeeding generations.

In the family of the Daitya Prahlada, the Nivata Kavachas were born, whose spirits were purified by rigid austerity.

Tamra (the wife of Kashyapa) had six illustrious daughters, named Shuki, Shyeni, Bhasi, Sugrivi, Shuchi, and Gridhrika. Shuki gave birth to parrots, owls, and crows; Shyeni to hawks; Bhasi to kites; Gridhrika to vultures; Shuchi to water-fowl; Sugrivi to horses, camels, and asses. Such were the progeny of Tamra.

Vinata bore to Kashyapa two celebrated sons, Garuda and Arunna: the former, also called Suparna, was the king of the feathered tribes, and the remorseless enemy of the serpent race.

The children of Surasa were a thousand mighty many-headed serpents, traversing the sky.

The progeny of Kadru were a thousand powerful many-headed serpents, of immeasurable might, subject to Garuda; the chief amongst whom were Shesha, Vasuki, Takshaka, Shankha, Shweta, Mahapadma, Kambala, Aswatara, Elapatra, Naga, Karkkota, Dhananjaya, and many other fierce and venomous serpents.

The family of Krodhavasa were all sharp-toothed monsters, whether on the earth, amongst the birds, or in the waters, that were devourers of flesh. Surabhi was the mother of cows and buffaloes: Ira, of trees and creeping plants and shrubs, and every kind of grass: Khasha, of the Rakshasas and Yakshas: Muni, of the Apsarasas: and Arishta, of the illustrious Gandharvas.

These were the children of Kashyapa, whether movable or stationary, whose descendants multiplied infinitely through successive generations. This creation, Oh Brahman, took place in the second or Swarochisha Manvantara. In the present or Vaivaswata Manvantara, Brahma being engaged at the great sacrifice instituted by Varuna, the creation of progeny, as it is called, occurred; for he begot, as his sons, the seven Rishis, who were formerly mind-engendered; and was himself the grand-sire of the Gandharvas, serpents, Danavas, and gods.

Diti, having lost her children, propitiated Kashyapa; and the best of ascetics, being pleased with her, promised her a boon; on which she prayed for a son of irresistible prowess and valour, who should destroy Indra. The excellent Muni granted his wife the great gift she had solicited, but with one condition: He said,

"You shall bear a son, who shall slay Indra, if with thoughts wholly pious, and person entirely pure, you carefully carry the babe in your womb for a hundred years."

Having thus said, Kashyapa departed; and the dame conceived, and during gestation assiduously observed the rules of mental and personal purity. When the king of the immortals, learnt that Diti bore a son destined for his destruction, he came to her, and attended upon her with the utmost humility, watching for an opportunity to disappoint her intention. At last, in the last year of the century, the opportunity occurred. Diti retired one night to rest without performing the prescribed ablution of her feet, and fell asleep; on which the thunderer divided with his thunderbolt the embryo in her womb into seven portions. The child, thus mutilated, cried bitterly; and Indra repeatedly attempted to console and silence it, but in vain: on which the god, being incensed, again divided each of the seven portions into seven, and thus formed the swift-moving deities called Marutas (winds). They derived this appellation from the words with which Indra had addressed them (Ma rodih, 'Weep not'); and they became forty-nine subordinate divinities, the associates of the wielder of the thunderbolt.

When Prithu was installed in the government of the earth, the great father of the spheres established sovereignties in other parts of the creation. Soma was appointed monarch of the stars and planets, of Brahmans and of plants, of sacrifices and of penance. Vaisravańa was made king over kings; and Varuna, over the waters. Vishnu was the chief of the Adityas; Pavaka, of the Vasus; Daksha, of the patriarchs; Vasava, of the winds. To Prahlada was assigned dominion over the Daityas and Danavas; and Yama, the king of justice, was appointed the monarch of the Manes (Pitris). Airavata was made the king of elephants; Garuda, of birds; Indra, of the gods. Uchchaishravas was the chief of horses; Vrishabha, of kine. Shesha became the snake-king; the lion, the monarch of the beasts; and the sovereign of the trees was the holy fig-tree. Having thus fixed the limits of each authority, the great progenitor Brahma stationed rulers for the protection of the different quarters of the world: he made Sudhanwan, the son of the patriarch Viraja, the regent of the east; Shankhapada, the son of the patriarch Kardama, of the south; the immortal Ketumat, the son of Rajas, regent of the west; and Hiranyaroman, the son of the patriarch Parjanya, regent of the north. By these the whole earth, with its seven continents and its cities, is to the present day vigilantly protected, according to their several limits.

All these monarchs, and whatever others may be invested with authority by the mighty Vishnu, as instruments for the preservation of the world; all the kings who have been, and all who shall be; are all, most worthy Brahman, but portions of the universal Vishnu. The rulers of the gods, the rulers of the Daityas, the rulers of the Danavas, and the rulers of all malignant spirits; the chief amongst beasts, amongst birds, amongst men, amongst serpents; the best of trees, of mountains, of planets; either those that now are, or that shall hereafter be, the most exalted of their kind; are but portions of the universal Vishnu. The power of protecting created things, the preservation of the world, resides with no other than Hari, the lord of all. He is the creator, who creates the world; he, the eternal, preserves it in its existence; and he, the destroyer, destroys it; invested severally with the attributes of foulness, goodness, and gloom. By a fourfold manifestation does Janardana operate in creation, preservation, and destruction. In one portion, as Brahma, the invisible assumes a visible form; in another portion he, as Marichi and the rest, is the progenitor of all creatures; his third portion is time; his fourth is all beings: and thus he becomes quadruple in creation, invested with the quality of passion. In the preservation of the world he is, in one portion, Vishnu; in another portion he is Manu and the other patriarchs; he is time in a third; and all beings in a fourth portion: and thus, endowed with the property of goodness, Purushottama preserves the world. When he assumes the property of darkness, at the end of all things, the unborn deity becomes in one portion Rudra; in another, the destroying fire; in a third, time; and in a fourth, all beings: and thus, in a quadruple form, he is the destroyer of the world. This, Brahman, is the fourfold condition of the deity at all seasons.

Brahma, Daksha, Time, and all creatures are the four energies of Hari, which are the causes of creation. Vishnu, Manu and the rest, time, and all creatures are the four energies of Vishnu, which are the causes of duration. Rudra, the destroying fire, time, and all creatures are the four energies of Janardana that are exerted for universal dissolution. In the beginning and the duration of the world, until the period of its end, creation is the work of Brahma, the patriarchs, and living animals. Brahma creates in the beginning; then the patriarchs beget progeny; and then animals incessantly multiply their kinds: but Brahma is not the active agent in creation, independent of time; neither are the patriarchs, nor living animals. So, in the periods of creation and of dissolution, the four portions of the god of gods are equally essential. Whatever, Oh Brahman, is engendered by any living being, the body of Hari is cooperative in the birth of that being; so whatever destroys any existing thing, movable or stationary, at any time, is the destroying form of Janardana as Rudra. Thus Janardana is the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer of the whole world, being threefold, in the several seasons of creation, preservation, and destruction, according to his assumption of the three qualities: but his highest glory is detached from all qualities; for the fourfold essence of the supreme spirit is composed of true wisdom, pervades all things, is only to be appreciated by itself, and admits of no similitude."