The accounts of Narada's origin vary considerably. According to the Bhagavata, he was the third incarnation of Vishnu. Manu declares that he was one of the Maharishis whom he created at the beginning of the

age. Moor [**] quotes as . follows: "Brahma said, 'Rise up, Rudra, and form man to govern the world.' Rudra obeyed; but the men he made were fiercer than tigers, having nothing but the destructive quality in their composition. Anger was their only passion. Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra then joined their different powers, and created ten men whose names were Narada," etc. The "Siva Purana" teaches that Narada sprang from the thigh of his father: "Brahma, in view of peopling the world, produced four beings, who, being refractory, caused their parent to weep. To comfort him, Siva, in the character of Rudra, issued from a fold in his forehead, with five heads and ten arms, and, endowing Brahma with additional might, he (Brahma) produced Bhrigu and the seven Rishis, and after that Narada from his thigh." [*+]

In another birth Narada was the son of Kasyapa [*++] and a daughter of Daksha. Daksha was greatly incensed when he dissuaded the Prajapati's sons from peopling the world, and declared that he should not have a resting-place; hence his wandering nature.

On one occasion Narada was cursed by his own father, and he in return cursed Brahma. "Brahma exhorted his son Narada to take a wife, and assist in peopling the world. Narada, who was a votary of Krishna, becomes angry, affirms that devotion to that god is the sole way to attain felicity, and denounces his father as an erring instructor. Brahma, in reply, curses Narada, and dooms him to a life of sensuality, and subjection to women. Narada pays back the imprecation as follows: 'Wretch! become no object of adoration: how shall any

one be devoted to the forms of thy worship? Thou shalt without doubt lust after her who is no fit object of thy desires!' Through this curse of Narada, the creator of the world ceased to be an object of worship. Beholding the beauty of his daughter, he ran after her. Narada, having made obeisance to his lotus-born father, forsook his Brahmanical body, and became a Gandharva, [**] a chorister of Indra's heaven."