PADMA PURANA

Creation of Eight Vasus, Eleven Rudras, Twelve Adityas, Forty nine Marudganas, and Fourteen Manus

The initial lot of ‘Prajavarga’was created by ‘Sankalpa’ (Thought), ‘Darshana’ (Vision) and ‘Sparsha’ (Touch).But, the process of creation adopted by the aforesaid methodology was not quick enough as Daksha Pajapati initiated man-woman body contact by which means the process of Srishti became faster and more definitive;by adopting this technique, his wife ‘Veerini’ gave birth to ten Dharmas, thirteen Kashyapas, twenty  seven Chadramas, four Agnishtomikaas, two ‘Bhrigu Putras’, two Kushashvas and two Maharshi ‘Angeeras’.

The broadening the family base took place henceforth. Dharma’s wives were Arundhati, Vasu, Jaami, Lamba, Bhanu, Marutvati, Sankalpa, Muhurta, Sandhya, and Vishwa. Devas were born as follows: Vishwa begot Vishwadeva; Sandhya -naamak Devatas were born of Sandhya; Marutvati gave birth to Marut Devas; Vasu begot ‘Ashta Vasus’; Bhanu gave birth to Bhanu; Muhurtamani Devas were born to Muhurta Devi; from Lamba was born Ghosh; Jaami gave birth to Nagavidhi Kanya; from Arundhati were born all the ‘Praanis’on Earth and Sankalpas were born Sankalpa.These Devas were spread over and illuminated. The Ashta Vasus were Aapa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhara, Anila, Anala, Prathyusha, and Prabhasa. Aapa had four sons viz. Shanta, Vaitanda, Saamba and Muni Babhru and these are ‘Yajna Rakshaka Adhikaaris’ or the Security Officials of Yajnas. Dhruva’s son was called Kaal and Soma’s son was Varcha; Dhara’s sons were Dravina and Havyavaaha; Anil’s putras were Praana, Ramana and Sharira. Anal had several sons and were like Agni; they were born of ‘Sarkhandhis’ (sea shore grass); significant ones of these were Shaakha, Upashaakha and Naigameya. As ‘Krittikas’as well as Agni were responsible in the birth of Skanda Deva, he is also known as Kartikeya. Prathysha’s son was Devala Muni and Vishwakarma Prajapati was the son of Prabhasa and the Architect and Builder of Devas. Ekadasha Rudras viz. Ajaikapaada, Ahirbhudhnya,Virupaaksdha, Raivata, Hara, Bahurupa, Thraimbaka, Saavitra, Jayanta, Pinaki, and Aparajita are the Chiefs of Rudra ganas numbering eighty four crore Ganas, each wearing Trishuls. Kashyapa’s progeny from his wives Aditi, Diti, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Taamna, Krodhavasha, Ira, Kadru, Khasa and Muni was in multitudes. During the present Vaivaswata Manvantara, there are Twelve Adityas Adityas viz. Indra, Dhata, Bhaga, Twashta, Mitra, Varuna, Aryama, Viviswan, Savita, Pusha, Amshuman and Vishnu. These Aditya’s were born to Kashyap and Aditi.
Pulastya Maharshi then continued to describe to Bhishma the origin of Danavas born of Kashyapa and Diti viz. Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. Hiranyakashipu had four sons-Ayushmaan, Shibi, Vaashkali and Virochan. The last mentioned had an illustrious son called Bali who had in turn hundred sons of whom Banasura was a mighty warrior with expertise in ‘Astras’ or the Science of Archery. Maha Shiva was so satisfied with Banasura’s Tapasya the he agreed to reside in the Asura’s Nagari. Shiva bestowed the title of Mahakaal to Banasura who was Shiva’s companion. Hiranyaksha had four sons, viz. Uluk, Shakuni, Bhutasantaapan and Maha Bheem, who among them produced twenty seven crore Danavas in their generations. Danu had from Kashyap hundred sons who were virtuous and mighty, important among them being Viprachit, Swarbhanu, Maya, Vrishaparva, and Vaishwanara; Mandodari was born to Maya; Vaiswanara’s daughter named Puloma gave birth to Paoloma and Kalakeya who created havoc among in the world on securing Brahma’s boons of invincibility and was finally killed by Arjuna of Maha Bharatha. Viprachit married Simhika and their son Rahu is the famous Planet who was stated to have tasted ‘Amrit’ and became deathless like Devas. Tamra was among the wives of Sage Kashyap who had six daughters who all gave birth to various birds viz. Shuki who created Shuka or parrots and Ullu or owls; Shaini created the birds of the same name; Bhasi created ‘Krr’ named bird; Grudhri created Grudhra or Kite; Sumrughni created Kabutar or Doves; Shuchi created Hamsa, Saras, Karanda and Plava birds. Devi Vinati who was the religiously inclined wife of Kashyap created two celebrated sons viz. Garuda the ‘Pakshi Raja’who was the Carrier of Maha Vishnu and Aruna the Carrier of Surya Deva. Vinati also gave birth to Saudamini who appears on the Sky occasionally as a fleeting lightning. Aruna had two sons viz. Sampaati and Jataayu. Surasa, another daughter of Kashyap and Diti, gave birth to thousands of serpents; but Kadru observed a noble Vrata and begot thousand-hooded Nagas of whom twenty six famous ones were Sesha, Vasuki, Karkotaka, Shankha, Itavata, Kambal, Dhananjaya, Mahanila, Padma, Ashwatara, Takshak, Ilapatra, Maha Padma, Dhritarashtra, Balahaka, Shankhapala, Nahusha, Ramana, Panini, Kapila, Durmukha and Patanjalimukha. Not many of the Nagas survived since Janamejaya the last reputed Pandava avenged Parikshit-his father’s- untimely death in the Sarpa Yagna and thousands of poisonous snakes perished in the fire-pit. Surabhi with the Amsa of Kashyap created Aprasas, the beautiful celestial damsels. Arishta gave birth to Kinnaras and Gandharvas. Ira Devi created trees, creepers, grass and the like, while Khasa gave birth to crores of Rakshasas and Yakshas.

Sage Pulastya continued to delineate the process of further Creation to Bhishma. As innumerable Daityas were killed in the series of Deva-Danava battles, especially at the time of ‘Samudra-Manthan’ (Churning of the Ocean) and ‘Amrita Prapti’ (Emergence of Amrita), Devi Diti was mentally shattered and performed severe Tapasya on the banks of River Sarasvati to Surya Deva with the singular objective of killing Indra and Devas. Kashyap assured that her objective should be fulfilled and that she should observe regulations such as reside in a Tapovana, take ample care of her ‘Garbha’, observe single meal a day, never go near a tree, never enter water nor a house/ shadow, keep calm, never hear bad news nor quarrel, never be overjoyed, keep engaged in propitious acts, and so on. As her confinement stage was nearing, Indra entered Diti’s garbha when she was asleep and cut the embrio of the boy about to be born into seven pieces, with each piece being cut into seven further pieces thus making a lot of forty nine pieces.As these pieces started crying, Indra tried to console the, saying :’ma rudah’ ( do not cry); Indra realised that Devi Diti was blessed due to the power of a Vrata that she was asked by Kashyap to perform; he apologised for his heinous act of entering her womb and cutting fortynine pieces of the baby, named the forty nine boys as Marudganas, elevated their status of Devas and made them eligible for sharing the ‘Havis’ or the ‘Yagna Phal’ and with veneration gave all the facilities due to Devas; and flew them across to Swargaloka along with Diti Devi, the Daitya Mata. Having described the Adi Sarga (Creation) and Pratisarga (Reabsorption), Sage Pulastya provided an overview of Manvavantaras to King Bhishma. Swayambhu, Swarochisha, Uouttama, Tamasa, Raivata and Chakshusa were the earlier six Manus and the on-going Seventh Manvantara is of Vaivaswata. During this period the Sapta Rishis are Atri, Vasishtha, Kashyapa, Gautama, Bharadwaja, Vishwamitra and Jamadagni.The future Manus are scheduled to be Sanavarnya, Rouchya, Bhoutya, Meru Savarnya, Ribhu, Veetadhama and Vishvaksena, thus totalling fourteen Manus.