Soma having concluded, the Prachetasas took Márishá, as he had enjoined them, righteously to wife, relinquishing their indignation against the trees; and upon her they begot the eminent patriarch Daksha, who had (in a former life) been born as the son of Brahmá.1 whole story of Márisha's birth is nowhere else so fully detailed. The penance of the Prachetasas, and its consequences, are related in the Agni, Bhagavata, Matsya, Padma, Váyu, and Brahma Puránas; and allusion is briefly made to Márisha's birth. Her origin from Kandu and Pramlochá is narrated in a different place in the Brahma Purána, where the austerities of Kandu, and the necessity for their interruption, are described. The story, from that authority, was translated by the late Professor Chézy, and is published in the first number of the Journal Asiatique. The second birth of Daksha, and his share in the peopling of the earth, is narrated in most of the Puráñas in a similar manner. It is, perhaps, the original legend; for Daksha seems to be an irregular adjunct to the Prajapatis or mind-born sons of Brahmá (see Vol. I., p. 100, note 2); and the allegorical nature of his posterity in that character (Vol. I., p. 109) intimates a more recent origin. Nor does that series of descendants apparently occur in the Mahábhárata; although the existence of two Dakshas is especially remarked there (Moksha Dharma): तस्माद्द्वे नामनी लोके दक्षः क इति चोच्यते । * In the Ádi Parvan, which seems to be the freest from subsequent improvements, the Daksha noticed is the son of the Prachetasas. The incompatibility of the two accounts is reconciled hy referring the two Dakshas to different Manwantaras; the Daksha who proceeded from Brahmá as a Prajapati being born in the first, or Swayambhuva, and the son of the Prachetasas, in the Chákshusha, Manwantara. The latter, however, as descended from Uttánapáda, should belong to the first period also. It is evident that great confusion has been made, by the Puráñas, in Daksha's history. This great sage, for the furtherance of creation, and the increase of mankind, created progeny. Obeying the command of Brahmá, he made movable and immovable things,* bipeds and quadrupeds,† and, subsequently, by his will, gave birth to females, ten of whom he bestowed on Dharma, thirteen on Kasyapa, and twenty-seven, who regulate the course of time, on the Moon. Of these, the gods, the Titans, the snakegods, cattle, and birds, the singers and dancers of the courts of heaven, the spirits of evil, § and other beings, were born. From that period forwards, living creatures were engendered by sexual intercourse. Before the time of Daksha, they were variously propagated,--by the will, by sight, by touch, and by the influence of religious austerities practised by devout sages and holy saints. MAITREYA. Daksha, as I have formerly heard, was born from the right thumb of Brahmá. 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 Márishá, was the grandson of Soma, could be also his father-in-law. PARÁSARA.-Birth and death are constant in all creatures. Rishis and sages, possessing divine vision, That is, they are the Nakshatras or lunar asterisms. The Sanskrit has avara and vara, "inferior" and "superior"; and these epithets, not being given in the neuter, but in the masculine, refer to putra, Professor Wilson's "progeny”. See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., pp. 26 and 27. + Daitya. § Dánava. See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., p. 27. 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.1 Of this the wise man entertains no doubt. Amongst them of old there 1 'They are removed' explains by (f), which the commentator are absorbed, as if they were fast asleep.' But, in every age or Yuga, according to the text,-in every Manwantara, according to the comment-the Rishis reappear; the circumstances of their origin only being varied. Daksha, therefore, as remarked in the preceding note, is the son of Brahmá, in one period, the son of the Prachetasas, in another. So Soma, in the Swayambhuva Manwantara, was born as the son of Atri; in the Chakshusha, he was produced by churning the ocean. The words of our text occur in the Hari Vamsa,* with an unimportant variation: उत्पत्तिश्च निरोधश्च नित्यं भूतेषु पार्थिव । ऋषयोऽत्र न मुह्यन्ति विद्वांसश्चैव ये जनाः ॥ 'Birth and obstruction are constant in all beings. But Rishis, and those men who are wise, are not perplexed by this'; that is, not, as rendered above, by the alternation of life and death, but, according to the commentator on the Hari Vamsa, by a very different matter, the prohibition of unlawful marriages. Utpatti, 'birth of progeny, is the result of their will; Nirodha, 'obstruction', is the law prohibiting the intermarriage of persons connected by the offering of the funeral cake : निरोधो नित्यमसपिण्डामुद्वहेति f: to which Rishis and sages are not subject, either from their matrimonial unions being merely Platonic, or from the bad example set by Brahma, who, according to the Vedas, approached his own daughter: प्रजापतिर्वै स्वदुहितरमभ्यध्यायदिति श्रुतिः । a mystery we have already had occasion to advert to (Vol. I., p. 104, note 2). The explanation of the text, however, given by the commentator appears forced, and less natural than the interpretation preferred above. * Stanza 111. 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.-Narrate to me, venerable Brahman, at length, the birth of the gods, Titans, † Gandharvas, serpents, and goblins. PARÁSARA.-In what manner Daksha created living creatures, as commanded by Brahmá, 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 Asikní, the daughter of the patriarch Vírańa,1 a damsel addicted to devout practices, the eminent This is the usual account of Daksha's marriage, and is that of the Mahábhárata, Ádi Parvan (p. 113), and of the Brahma Purána, which the Hari Vamsa, in the first part, repeats. In another portion, the Pushkara Máhátmya, however, Daksha, it is said, converts half himself into a female, by whom he begets the daughters presently to be noticed : दक्षः प्राचेतसस्तस्यां कन्यायां जनयत्प्रभुः । देहार्धयोगविधिना कन्याः पद्मनिभाननाः ॥ This seems to be merely a new edition of an old story. * कानिष्ठ्यं ज्यैष्ठ्यमप्येषां पूर्वं नाभूद्द्विजोत्तम । तप एव गरीयोऽभूत्प्रभावश्चैव कारणम् ॥ See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., p. 27. † Dánava. + Rakshas. $ Gandharva. || Asura. 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. Nárada, the divine Rishi, observing them desirous to multiply posterity, approached them, and addressed them in a friendly tone: "Illustrious Haryaśwas, 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 ye not all behold the term of the universe?”* Having heard the words of Nárada, the sons 1 भुवोऽन्तरूर्ध्वमधश्च । The commentator explains it to mean the origin, duration, and termination of subtile rudimental body; but the Padma and Linga Puráňas distinctly express it, 'the extent of the earth': भुवः प्रमाणं सर्वत्र ज्ञात्वोर्ध्वमध एव च । * नारद उवाच । हे हर्यश्वा महावीर्यः प्रजा यूयं करिष्यथ । तदा कस्माद्भुवो नान्तं सर्वे द्रच्यथ बालिशाः ॥ The larger commentary_remarks as follows, on the last two of these stanzas: बालिशा बतेत्यादेरयं वास्तवोऽर्थः । तत्त्वज्ञानाधिकारिणां प्रजासृथ्यादिदुःखदर्शनाद्वतेति संबाधनम् । अहो यूयं बालिशा अज्ञा यतो ऽस्या भुवः संसारावपनक्षेत्रस्य लिङ्गशरीरस्याध उपक्रमम् । ऊर्ध्वमवसानम् । अन्तर्मध्यं च न जानीत । अतो मोक्षमार्गमज्ञात्वा कथं किमिति प्रजाः स्रक्ष्यथ व्यर्थम् । तस्मात्तत्त्वज्ञानाधिकारिणां युष्माकं तदेव कार्यमित्याह । ऊर्ध्वमिति । अध उत्पत्तेः पूर्वमव्यक्तमेव । |
