10:14 The attributes of Pradhána, the chief (principle or element), here specified, conform generally to those ascribed to it by the Sánkhya philosophy (Sánkhya Káriká, p. 16, &c.), although some of them are incompatible with its origin from a first cause. In the Sánkhya this incongruity does not occur; for there Pradhána is independent, and coordinate with primary spirit. The Puráńas give rise to the inconsistency by a lax use of both philosophical and pantheistical expressions. The most incongruous epithets in our text are however explained away in the comment. Thus nitya, 'eternal,' is said to mean 'uniform, not liable to increase or diminution:' Sadasadátmaka, 'comprehending what is and what is not,' means 'having the power of both cause and effect', as proceeding from Vishńu, and as giving origin to material things. Anádi, 'without beginning,' means 'without birth', not being engendered by any created thing, but proceeding immediately from the first cause. 'The mother,' or literally the womb of the world', means the passive agent in creation,' operated on or influenced by the active will of the Creator. The first part of the passage in the text is a favourite one with several of. the Puráńas, but they modify it and apply it after their own fashion. In the Vishńu the original is ###, rendered as above. The Váyu, Brahmánda, and p. 11 Kúrmma Puráńas have 'The indiscrete cause, which is uniform, and both cause and effect, and whom those who are acquainted with first principles call Pradhána and Prakriti--is the uncognizable Brahma, who was before all.' But the application of two synonymes of Prakriti to Brahma seems unnecessary at least. The Brahmá P. corrects the reading apparently: the first line is as before; the second is, ###. The passage is placed absolutely; 'There was an indiscrete cause eternal, and cause and effect, which was both matter and spirit (Pradhána and Purusha), from which this world was made. Instead of 'such' or this,' some copies read 'from which Íśwara or god (the active deity or Brahmá) made the world.' The Hari Vanśa has the same reading, except in the last term, which it makes ### that is, according to the commentator, the world, which is Íśwara, was made.' The same authority explains this indiscrete cause, avyakta kárana, to denote Brahmá, the creator an identification very unusual, if not inaccurate, and possibly founded on misapprehension of what is stated by the Bhavishya P.: 'That male or spirit which is endowed with that which is the indiscrete cause, &c. is known in the world as Brahmá: he being in the egg, &c.' The passage is precisely the same in Manu, I, 11; except that we have 'visrishta' instead of 'viśisht́ha:' the latter is a questionable reading, and is probably wrong: the sense of the latter is, detached; and the whole means very consistently, 'embodied spirit detached from the indiscrete cause of the world is known as Brahmá.' The Padma P. inserts the first line, ### &c., but has 'Which creates undoubtedly Mahat and the other qualities' assigning the first epithets, therefore, as the Vishńu does, to Prakriti only. The Linga also refers the expression to Prakriti alone, but makes it a secondary cause: 'An indiscrete cause, which those acquainted with first principles call Pradhána and Prakriti, proceeded from that Íśwara (Śiva).' This passage is one of very many instances in which expressions are common to several Puráńas that seem to be borrowed from one another, or from some common source older than any of them, especially in this instance, as the same text occurs in Manu.