The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840], at sacred-texts.com
The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840], at sacred-texts.com
The descendants of the daughters of Daksha married to the Rishis.
MAITREYA.--Thou hast narrated to me, great Muni, all that I asked of thee: now resume the account of the creation subsequently to Bhrigu.
PARÁŚARA.--Lakshmí, the bride of Vishńu, was the daughter of Bhrigu by Khyáti. They had also two sons, Dhátri and Vidhátri, who married the two daughters of the illustrious Meru, Áyati and Niryati; and had by them each a son, named Práńa and Mrikańd́a. The son of the latter was Márkańd́eya, from whom Vedaśiras was born 1. The son of Práńa was named Dyutimat, and his son was Rájavat; after whom, the race of Bhrigu became infinitely multiplied.
Sambhúti, the wife of Maríchi, gave birth to Paurnamása, whose sons were Virajas and Sarvaga. I shall hereafter notice his other descendants, when I give a more particular account of the race of Maríchi 2.
The wife of Angiras, Smriti, bore daughters named Siniválí, Kuhu,
[paragraph continues] Ráká, and Anumati (phases of the moon 3). Anasúyá, the wife of Atri, was the mother of three sinless sons, Soma (the moon), Durvásas, and the ascetic Dattátreya 4. Pulastya had, by Príti, a son called in a former birth, or in the Swáyambhuva Manwantara, Dattoli, who is now known as the sage Agastya 5. Kshamá, the wife of the patriarch Pulaha, was the mother of three sons, Karmasa, Arvarívat, and Sahishńu 6. The wife of Kratu, Sannati, brought forth the sixty thousand Bálakhilyas, pigmy sages, no bigger than a joint of the thumb, chaste, pious, resplendent as the rays of the sun 7. Vaśisht́ha had seven sons by his wife Urjjá, Rajas, Gátra, Úrddhabáhu, Savana, Anagha, Sutapas, and Śukra, the seven pure sages 8. The Agni named Abhimání, who is the eldest born of
[paragraph continues] Brahmá, had, by Swáhá, three sons of surpassing brilliancy, Pávaka, Pavamána, and Śuchi, who drinks up water: they had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahmá and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires 9. The progenitors (Pitris), who, as I have mentioned, were created by Brahmá, were the Agnishwáttas and Varhishads; the former being devoid of, and the latter possessed of, fires 10. By them, Swadhá had two daughters, Mená and Dháraní, who were both acquainted with theological truth, and both addicted to religious meditation; both accomplished in perfect wisdom, and adorned with all estimable qualities 11. Thus has been explained the progeny of the
daughters of Daksha 12. He who with faith recapitulates the account, shall never want offspring.
82:1 The commentator interprets the text ### to refer to Práńa: 'Vedaśiras was born the son of Práńa.' So the Bhágavata has ###. The Linga, the Váyu, and Márkańd́eya, however, confirm our reading of the text, making Vedaśiras the son of Márkańd́eya. Práńa, or, as read in the two former, Páńd́u, was married to Puńd́aríká, and had by her Dyutimat, whose sons were Srijávańa and Asruta or Asrutavrańa. Mrikańd́a (also read Mrikańd́u) married Manaswiní, and had Márkańd́eya, whose son, by Murddhanyá, was Vedaśiras: he married Pívarí, and had many children, who constituted the family, or Brahmanical tribe, of Bhárgavas, sons of Bhrigu. The most celebrated of these was Uśanas, the preceptor of the Daityas, who, according to the Bhágavata, was the son of Vedaśiras; but the Váyu makes him the son of Bhrigu by Paulomí, and born at a different period.
82:2 Alluding especially to Kaśyapa, the son of Maríchi, of whose posterity a full detail is subsequently given. The Bhágavata adds a daughter, Devakulyá; and the Váyu and Linga, four daughters, Tusht́i, Pusht́i, Twishá, and Apachiti. The latter inserts the grandsons of Paurnamása. Virajas, married to Gaurí, has Sudháman, a Lokapála, or ruler of the east quarter; and Parvasa (quasi Sarvaga) has, by Parvasí, Yajnaváma and Kaśyata, who were both founders of Gotras, or families. The names of all these occur in different forms in different MSS.
83:3 The Bhágavata adds, that in the Swárochisha Manwantara the sages Uttathya and Vrihaspati were also sons of Angiras; and the Váyu, &c. specify Agni and Kírttimat as the sons of the patriarch in the first Manwantara. Agni, married to Sadwatí, has Parjanya, married to Maríchi; and their son is Hiranyaroman, a Lokapála. Kírttimat has, by Dhenuká, two sons, Charishńu and Dhritimat.
83:4 The Bhágavata gives an account of Atri's penance, by which the three gods, Brahmá, Vishńu, and Śiva, were propitiated, and became, in portions of themselves, severally his sons, Soma, Datta, and Durvásas. The Váyu has a totally different series, or five sons, Satyanetra, Havya, Ápomurtti, Sani, and Soma; and one daughter, Sruti, who became the wife of Kardama.
83:5 The text would seem to imply that he was called Agastya in a former Manwantara, but the commentator explains it as above. The Bhágavata calls the wife of Pulastya, Havirbhú, whose sons were the Muni Agastya, called in a former birth Dahrágni or Jat́harágni, and Visravas. The latter had by Ilavilá, the deity of wealth, Kuvera; and by Kesiní, the Rákshasas Rávańa, Kumbhakarńa, and Vibhíshańa. The Váyu specifies three sons of Pulastya, Dattoli, Vedabáhu, and Viníta; and one daughter, Sadwatí, married (see note 3) to Agni.
83:6 The Bhágavata reads Karmaśresht́ha, Varíyas, and Sahishńu. The Váyu and Linga have Kardama and Ambarísha in place of the two first, and add Vanakapívat and a daughter, Pívarí, married to Vedaśiras (see note 1). Kardama married Śruti (note 4), and had by her Sankhapáda, one of the Lokapálas, and a daughter, Kámyá, married to Priyavrata (note 6, p. 53). Vana-kapívat, also read Dhana-k. and Ghana-k., had a son, Sahishńu, married to Yasodhará, and they were the parents of Kámadeva.
83:7 The different authorities agree in this place. The Váyu adds two daughters, Punyá and Sumatí, married to Yajnaváma (see note 2).
83:8 The Bhágavata has an entirely different set of names, or Chitraketu, Surochish, Virajas, Mitra, Ulwana, Vasubhridyána, and p. 84 Dyumat. It also specifies Saktri and others, as the issue of a different marriage. The Váyu and Linga have the same sons as in our text, reading Putra and Hasta in place of Gátra: they add a daughter, Puńd́ariká, married to Pańd́u (see note 1). The eldest son, according to the Váyu, espoused a daughter of Márkańd́eya, and had by her the Lokapála of the west, Ketumat. The seven sons of Vaśisht́ha are termed in the text the seven Rishis, appearing in that character in the third Manwantara.
84:9 The eldest son of Brahmá, according to the commentator, upon the authority of the Vedas. The Váyu P. enters into a very long detail of the names and places of the whole forty-nine fires. According to that, also, Pávaka is electric or Vaidynta fire; Pavamána is that produced by friction, or Nirmathya; and Śuchi is solar, Saura, fire. Pavamána was the parent of Kavyaváhana, the fire of the Pitris; Śuchi of Havyaváhana, the fire of the gods; and Pavamána of Saharaksha, the fire of the Asuras. The Bhágavata explains these different fires to be so many appellations of fire employed in the invocations with which different oblations to fire are offered in the ritual of the Vedas: ### explained by the commentator, ###.
84:10 According to the commentator, this distinction is derived from the Vedas. The first class, or Agnishwáttas, consists of those householders who, when alive, did not maintain their domestic fires, nor offer burnt-sacrifices: the second, of those who kept up the household flame, and presented oblations with fire. Manu calls these Agnidagdhas and the reverse, which Sir W. Jones renders, 'consumable by fire,' &c. Kullúka Bhat́t́a gives no explanation of them. The Bhágavata adds other classes of Pitris; or, the Ájyapas, drinkers of ghee;' and Somapás, drinkers of the acid juice.' The commentator, explaining the meaning of the terms Ságnayas and Anágnyas, has, ### which might be understood to signify, that the Pitris who are 'without fire' are those to whom oblations are not offered; and those 'with fire' are they to whom oblations are presented.
84:11 The Váyu carries this genealogy forward. Dháraní was married to Meru, and p. 85 had by him Mandara and three daughters, Niyati, Áyati, and Velá: the two first were married to Dhátri and Vidhátri (p. 81). Velá was the wife of Samudra, by whom she had Sámudrí, married to Prachínavarhish, and the mother of the ten Prachetasas, the fathers of Daksha, as subsequently narrated. Mená was married to Himávat, and was the mother of Maináka, and of Gangá, and of Párvati or Umá.
85:12 No notice is here taken of Sati, married to Bhava, as is intimated in c. 8 (p. 59), when describing the Rudras. Of these genealogies the fullest and apparently the oldest account is given in the Váyu P.: as far as that of our text extends, the two nearly agree, allowing for differences of appellation originating in inaccurate transcription, the names frequently varying in different copies of the same work, leaving it doubtful which reading should be preferred. The Bhágavata, as observed above (p. 54. n. 12), has created some further perplexity by substituting, as the wives of the patriarchs, the daughters of Kardama for those of Daksha. Of the general statement it may be observed, that although in some respects allegorical, as in the names of the wives of the Rishis (p. 54); and in others astronomical, as in the denominations of the daughters of Anginas (p. 82); yet it seems probable that it is not altogether fabulous, but that the persons in some instances had a real existence, the genealogies originating in imperfectly preserved traditions of the families of the first teachers of the Hindu religion, and of the descent of individuals who took an active share in its propagation.