46:7 These are enumerated in the text, as well as in the Váyu and Márkańd́eya P., and are, Udára, a sort of grain with long stalks (perhaps a holcus); Kodrava (Paspalum kora); Chínaka, a sort of panic (P. miliaceum); Másha, kidney bean (Phaseolus radiatus); Mudga (Phaseolus mungo); Masúra, lentil (Ervum hirsutum); Nishpáva, a sort of pulse; Kulattha (Dolithos p. 47 biflorus); Arhaki (Cytisus Cajan); Chanaka, chick pea (Cicer arietinum); and Sana (Crotolaria).

47:8 This allusion to the sects hostile to the Vedas, Buddhists or Jains, does not occur in the parallel passages of the Váyu and Márkańd́eya Puráńas.

47:9 The Váyu goes farther than this, and states that the castes were now first divided according to their occupations; having, indeed, previously stated that there was no such distinction in the Krita age: 'Brahmá now appointed those who were robust and violent to be Kshetriyas, to protect the rest; those who were pure and pious he made Brahmans; those who were of less power, but industrious, and addicted to cultivate the ground, he made Vaisyas; whilst the feeble and poor of spirit were constituted Śúdras: and he assigned them their several occupations, to prevent that interference with one another which had occurred as long as they recognised no duties peculiar to castes.

48:10 These worlds, some of which will be more particularly described in a different section, are the seven Lokas or spheres above the earth: 1. Prájápatya or Pitri loka: 2. Indra loka or Swerga: 3. Marut loka or Diva loka, heaven: 4. Gandharba loka, the region of celestial spirits; also called Maharloka: 5. Janaloka, or the sphere of saints; some copies read eighteen thousand; others, as in the text, which is also the reading of the Padma Puráńa: 6. Tapaloka, the world of the seven sages: and 7. Brahma loka or Satya loka, the world of infinite wisdom and truth. The eighth, or high world of Vishńu, is a sectarial addition, which in the Bhágavata is called Vaikuntha, and in the Brahma Vaivartta, Goloka; both apparently, and most certainly the last, modern inventions.

48:11 The divisions of Naraka, or hell, here named, are again more particularly enumerated, b. II. c. 6.

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Hinduism

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