by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 100
‘Markandeya said, “His energy heated it 897 from above and from below. Desiring to create, the grandfather, who originated from the lotus, started to think. ‘As soon as I create, that will be destroyed by the radiant Surya’s great energy. That great-souled one is the reason behind creation, preservation and destruction. Since he will dry up all the water with his energy, all living creatures will be deprived of their lives. The creation of the universe cannot happen without water.’ Thinking this, the illustrious one, Brahma, the grandfather of the worlds, fixed his mind on the illustrious Ravi and chanted a stotram to him. Brahma said, ‘I bow down to the one who is in everything. I bow down to the one who is in the form of everything. The universe is his embodied form. He is the supreme radiance yogis meditate about. The Rig hymns are in him. He is the reservoir for the Yajur hymns. He is the source of the Sama hymns. His powers are unthinkable. He is the manifest form of the three and the half matras. 898 His nature is supreme. He is worthy of the gunas, but he is beyond them. He is the supreme cause behind everything. He is the original one who should be known. He is the supreme radiance. His form cannot be known. His gross form is in the gods. I bow down to the radiance that existed in the beginning. He is supreme and beyond the supreme. I will create on the basis of your original power. That power assumes the form of water, earth, wind and fire. O god! The gods, the regions and everything else, the sound of OUM included, are urged by you at the time of creation and destruction. It is not because of what I wish. You are the fire. When you suck up water from the earth, this is when I undertake creation. This can be regarded as the first round of cooking. O illustrious one! You cover everything in the form of the sky. The five 899 are your own form and thus do you protect the universe. Those who know about the paramatman worship you with sacrifices. O Vivasvat! Vishnu, who exists in all sacrifices, is but your own form. You are the lord of everything. You are the paramatman. Mendicants who desire emancipation control themselves and meditate on you. I bow down before the one whose form is divine. I bow down before the one whose form is the sacrifice. Your own form is the supreme brahman that yogis think about. O lord! I am about to create. Control your energy, since your energy is an impediment in the path of creation.’ The radiant one was thus praised by Brahma, the creator. He withdrew his energy and retained only a small bit from it. The immensely fortunate one who originated from the lotus then went about creating the universe, just as he had done at the end of the last kalpa. O great sage! Brahma created gods, asuras and others, mortals, animals, trees, herbs and hells, just as they had existed earlier.”’
Chapter 101
‘Markandeya said, “Having created the universe, Brahma divided it according to varnas, ashramas, oceans, mountains and dvipas, exactly as they had existed earlier. The illustrious one, who originated from the lotus, created forms and places for gods, daityas, uragas and others, as they had existed earlier, and also for the Vedas. Brahma’s son was known as Marichi. His son was Kashyapa and Kashyapa’s son was Kaashyapa. 900 Daksha was Brahma’s son and thirteen of Daksha’s daughters became Kashyapa’s wives. They had many sons, gods, daityas, uragas and others. Aditi gave birth to the gods, the lords of the three worlds. Diti’s sons were the daityas. Danu’s sons were the fierce danavas, mighty in their valour. Vinata’s sons were Garuda and Aruna. Khasa’s sons were yakshas and rakshasas. Kadru gave birth to nagas and Muni gave birth to gandharvas. Krodha gave birth to Kulyas and large numbers of apsaras were born from Rishta. O brahmana! Ira gave birth to Airavata and other elephants. O brahmana! Tamra had daughters, the foremost among whom was Shyeni. Birds like hawks, wild crows and parrots were born through these daughters. The trees were born from Ila. The large number of aquatic creatures were born from Pradha. O sage! The sons born through Aditi and Kashyapa, their sons, sons of sons, sons of daughters and others covered the entire universe, through male lines and female lines. Among Kashyapa’s sons, the large number of gods were the foremost. O sage! They 901 belonged to three groups—those with sattva, those with rajas and those with tamas. Parameshthi Prajapati Brahma, supreme among those who know about the brahman, made the gods the lords of the three worlds and gave them a share in sacrifices. Therefore, the daityas, danavas and rakshasas became their enemies and combined against them. There was an extremely terrible battle between the two sides. After one thousand divine years, the gods were defeated. O brahmana! The powerful daityas and danavas were victorious.
‘“O supreme among sages! Aditi saw that her sons had been defeated by the daityas and the danavas and that the three worlds had been taken away from them. She was extremely distressed that the shares of the sacrifices had been taken away from them. She made supreme and single-minded efforts to worship Savitar. 902 She controlled her diet and observed supreme rituals. She praised Divakara, 903 the mass of energy in the sky. Aditi said, ‘I bow down to the extremely subtle one with the golden form. O energy! O lord of energy! O store of energy! O eternal one! O lord of the earth! You draw up water for the welfare of the world. Having received it, your form becomes fiercer. I bow down to that form. The juices are in the form of the moon and you suck them up for eight months. Thus, your radiant form become fiercer. I prostrate myself before that form. Through the rains, you release all those juices. O radiant one! I bow down to your form as a cloud, which has ingested those juices. Urged by the wind, you release those juices and nourish and mature the crops. O radiant one! I bow down to that form of yours. You adopt an extremely cold form to shower down snow and nurture the crops of that season. I bow down to that form. O Ravi! O god! O amiable one! During spring, you have a form that is not too fierce and not too cold. I bow down to that. I bow down to that form. There is another form that nourishes all the gods and the ancestors, through the maturing of crops. I bow down to that form. There is a form that grants life through herbs. There is a form of amrita. You are the essence of soma and the gods and the ancestors drink that. I bow down to that form. You have a form as a nourisher. The entire universe is your form. I bow down to you, and to Agni and Soma. 904 You are the store of qualities. With the Rig, Yajur and Sama hymns taken together, you have a form that is known as Trayi. 905 You heat the universe in this form. O Vibhavasu! I bow down to that form. There is another form that transcends all of this. It is not gross. It is infinite and spotless. It is always in the atman and it is spoken of in the sound of OUM. I bow down to that form.’ Controlling herself, the goddess chanted this stotram, day and night. O sage! She desired to worship Vivasvat and did not take any food. O supreme among brahmanas! After a long period of time had passed, the illustrious Tapana 906 directly manifested himself before Daksha’s daughter in the sky. She saw his extremely mysterious and radiant form straddling the sky and the earth and said, ‘O lord of the earth! Show me your favours. I cannot look at you. O Vivasvat! O one who heats! Without any food, I saw you earlier in the sky and you were extremely difficult to behold. Now I see that mass of energy here on earth. O Divakara! Show me your favours and display a form I can behold. O lord! Show favours to a devotee. I am devoted to you. Save my sons. You are the creator who creates. You are the one who saves it and are engaged in preserving it. At the time of destruction, everything proceeds into your essence. In truth, there is no other destination in all the worlds. You are Brahma. You are Hari. You are known as Aja. 907 You are Indra. You are the lord of riches. You are the lord of the ancestors. 908 You are the lord of the waters. You are the god of the wind. You are Soma. You are Agni. You are the lord of the sky, the mountains and the oceans. You are the abode of all forms. How can one praise you? You are the lord of sacrifices. Those who are devoted to their own tasks praise you every day. Following the norms, the brahmanas offer sacrifices to you. Those who are devoted to yoga control their minds and meditate on you. You are the supreme destination that mortals head towards. You heat and cook. You save the universe. You are the one who reduces it to ashes. You are the one who manifests it with your rays. You are the source of water. You alone are
the one who creates in the form of the one who took birth from the lotus. When you protect, you are known as Achyuta. At the end of a yuga, you alone are the one who assumes the form of Rudra.’”’
Chapter 102
‘Markandeya said, “After this, from his own energy, Vibhavasu revealed himself before Aditi. His complexion was like that of molten copper. O sage! The goddess prostrated herself before him. On seeing this, the illustrious one said, ‘Ask me for whatever boon you wish for.’ Her head was lowered down, her bent knees touching the ground. With Vivasvat, the granter of boons, present before her, she said, ‘O god! The daityas and danavas are superior in strength. They have taken away the three worlds and the shares in sacrifices from my sons. Show me your favours. O lord of the rays! For their sake, show me your favours. Use your portion to become one of their brothers, so that the enemies can be destroyed. O lord! Let it be such that my sons can again enjoy their shares of the sacrifices. O bringer of light! Let them become the lords of the three worlds. O Ravi! Be extremely pleased with me and show compassion towards my sons. Act in this way. You are spoken of as one who removes the distress of the afflicted and as one who ensures preservation.’ O brahmana! Aditi was prostrate before him. Pleased with her, the illustrious Bhaskara, the stealer of the water said, ‘In all my thousand portions, 909 I will be born in your womb. O Aditi! I will swiftly destroy the enemies of your sons. Refrain.’ 910 Having said this, the illustrious and radiant one vanished. With all her wishes having been satisfied, she too refrained from austerities.
‘“O brahmana! One of the sun’s rays is known as Soushumna. That descended in the womb of the mother of the gods. O brahmana! She nurtured the divine embryo, observing purity, chandrayana 911 and other vows of hardship. At this, Kashyapa spoke to her, his words tinged with a little bit of anger. ‘You are fasting all the time. Do you wish to kill the embryo in your womb?’ She spoke to him. ‘O one who is full of great rage! Can you not see that I am not killing the embryo that is in my womb? For the adversaries, he will be like death.’ Since she was following the path of the gods, she was herself angry at her husband’s words. Thus, saying this, she discharged the embryo and it blazed in its energy. Kashyapa saw the foetus, which dazzled like the rising sun. He bowed down and praised it, using Rig hymns and other hymns. O supreme sage! Thus praised, he 912 manifested himself from the foetus. His complexion was like that of lotus petals and his energy enveloped all the directions. An invisible voice that rumbled like the clouds was then heard from the firmament and it spoke to Kashyapa. ‘O sage! You said that the egg had been killed. O sage! Therefore, your son will be known as Martanda. 913 In the world, this lord will possess the rights of the sun. He will destroy the enemy asuras who have stolen shares of the sacrifices.’ Hearing the words that were spoken from the firmament, the gods were filled with unmatched delight and the danavas were robbed of their energy.
‘“After this, Shatakratu challenged the daityas to a battle. Happily, the danavas engaged in that battle with the gods. That clash between the gods and the asuras was extremely terrible. All the spaces in the universe were illuminated by the radiance of the blazing shastras and astras. In that battle, as soon as they looked at the illustrious Martanda, the great asuras lost their energy and were burnt down to ashes. At this, all the residents of heaven were filled with unmatched joy. They praised the source of energy, Martanda, and Aditi. As was the case earlier, they got back their own positions and the shares of sacrifices. The illustrious Martanda also acted according to his own rights. 914 With a complexion like that of a kadamba flower, his radiant rays spread, above and below. He assumed a form that wasn’t excessively radiant and was like a mass of fire, surrounded by flames.”’
Chapter 103
‘Markandeya said, “Praising and bowing down before him, Prajapati Vishvakarma bestowed his daughter, known by the name of Samjna, on Vivasvat. 915 The son born through her and Vivasvat was Vaivasvata Manu and I have already told you about this specific nature.”
‘Kroushtuki said, “I wish to hear about the great-souled Martanda again. If men hear about his conduct, all the sins of kali yuga are destroyed.”
‘Markandeya replied, “O sage! The lord of the rays had three children through her, two were extremely fortunate sons and the daughter was Yamuna. The eldest was Prajapati Vaivasvata Manu, the divinity who presides over shraddha ceremonies. 916 The twins, Yama and Yami, 917 were born after that. Vivasvat Martanda’s energy was excessive. The three worlds, and the mobile and immobile objects, were scorched by this. Samjna saw the great energy in Vivasvat’s circular form and could not tolerate it. On seeing her own shadow, 918 she spoke to her. Samjna said, ‘O fortunate one! I am going to my father’s house. O auspicious one! Without being agitated, follow my instruction and remain here. O one who is beautiful in complexion! I have these two sons and a daughter. O illustrious one! You should behave affectionately towards them.’ Chhaya replied, ‘Go where you wish. As long as I am not seized by the hair or cursed, I will not divulge anything.’ Thus addressed by Chhaya, Samjna went to her father’s house. For some time, the one with the auspicious eyes resided in her father’s house. However, her father repeatedly told her, ‘You should go back to your husband.’ Thereupon, she assumed the form of a mare and went to the Uttara Kuru region. O great sage! The virtuous one went without food and tormented herself through austerities there. When Samjna went to her father, Chhaya obeyed her words. She assumed her form and presented herself before Bhaskara. The illustrious Surya took her to be Samjna. Through her, he had two sons and a daughter. O supreme among brahmanas! The son who was born first was Savarni and he was the equal of the eldest son, the Manu. 919 The second son to be born was the planet, Shanaishchara. The daughter who was born was Tapati and King Samvarana married her. Queen Samjna used to behave towards her children in a certain way. But Chhaya did not behave towards those eldest children in exactly the same way. Manu forgave her, but Yama was unable to do so. His father’s wife was extremely sorry and entreated him in many different kinds of ways. O sage! However, Yama was a child and was overcome by anger and the force of what was bound to happen. He raised his foot to kick at Chhaya-Samjna. Chhaya was filled with great intolerance and cursed Yama. Chhaya said, ‘The father’s wife is a senior and you have tried to kick her with your foot. Therefore, there is no doubt that your foot will fall down.’ At this curse, Yama was greatly distressed in his mind. Along with Manu, Yama, with dharma in his soul, went and told their father everything. Yama said, ‘O god! Our mother does not display the same affection towards us. She ignores the elder children and nourishes the ones who are younger. Though I did raise my foot, I did not actually bring it down on her body. If I did it because of childish folly, or because of confusion, I should be pardoned. O father! A mother has cursed her son in a fit of rage. O supreme among those who scorch! I do not think that she is our mother. Even if a son lacks in qualities, a mother or a father never lacks in qualities. How could she have uttered those words? “O son! May your foot fall down.” O illustrious one! Through your favours, may my foot not fall down. O lord of the rays! Think of a means whereby this does not happen because of my mother’s curse.’ Ravi replied, ‘O son! There is no doubt that this will happen. You know about dharma and are truthful in speech. Since you succumbed to rage, there is a reason. There are counters to all the other curses. However, when a mother curses, that curse cannot be withdrawn. I am incapable of rendering your mother’s words false. But because of my affection towards you as a son, I can devise some means of mitigation. Worms will seize flesh from your foot and fall down on the ground. That way, her words will be true and you will also be saved.’ After this, Aditya spoke to Chhaya. ‘All the sons deserve to be treated with the same degree of affection. Why are you partial towards some? There is no doubt that you are not their mother, Samjna. Who are you and where have you come from? Even if children lack in qualities, how can a mother curse them?’ She did not say anything, or reveal anything. Vivasvat fixed his atman in med
itation and perceived the truth about everything. Chhaya-Samjna saw that the lord of the day was about to curse her. O brahmana! Trembling with fear, she told him exactly what had happened.