49:2 Considerable variety prevails in this list of Prajápatis, Brahmaputras, Bráhmanas, or Brahmarshis; but the variations are of the nature of additions made to an apparently original enumeration of but seven, whose names generally recur. Thus in the Mahábhárata, Moksha Dharma, we have in one place, Maríchi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vaśisht́ha, 'the seven highminded sons of the self-born Brahmá.' In another place of the same, however, we have Daksha substituted for Vaśisht́ha: 'Brahmá then created mind-begotten sons, of whom Daksha was the seventh, with Maríchi,' &c. These seven sons of Brahmá are also identified with the seven Rishis as in the Váyu; although, with palpable inconsistency, eight are immediately enumerated, or, Bhrigu, Maríchi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vaśisht́ha. The Uttara Khanda of the Padma P. substitutes Kardama for Vaśisht́ha. The Bhágavata includes Daksha, enumerating nine. The Matsya agrees with Manu in adding Nárada to the list of our text. The Kúrma P. adds Dharma and Sankalpa. The Linga, Brahmáńd́a, and Váyu P. also add them, and extend the list to Adharma and Ruchi. The Hari Vanśa in one place inserts Gautama, and p. 50 in another Manu. Altogether therefore we have seventeen, instead of seven. But the accounts given of the origin of several of these, shew that they were not originally included amongst the Mánasa putras, or sons of Brahmá's mind; for even Daksha, who finds a place in all the lists except one of those given in the Mahábhárata, is uniformly said to have sprung from Brahmá's thumb: and the same patriarch, as well as Dharma, is included in some accounts, as in the Bhágavata and Matsya P., amongst a different series of Brahmá's progeny, or virtues and vices; or, Daksha (dexterity), Dharma (virtue), Káma (desire), Krodha (passion), Lobha (covetousness), Moha (infatuation), Mada (insanity), Pramoda (pleasure), Mrityu (death), and Angaja (lust). These are severally derived from different parts of Brahmá's body: and the Bhagávata, adding Kardama (soil or sin) to this enumeration, makes him spring from Brahmá's shadow. The simple statement, that the first Prajápatis sprang from the mind or will of Brahmá, has not contented the depraved taste of the mystics, and in some of the Puráńas, as the Bhágavata, Linga, and Váyu, they also are derived from the body of their progenitor; or, Bhrigu from his skin, Maríchi from his mind, Atri from his eyes, Angiras from his mouth, Pulastya from his ear, Pulaha from his navel, Kratu from his hand, Vaśisht́ha from his breath, Daksha from his thumb, and Nárada from his hip. They do not exactly agree, however, in the places whence these beings proceed; as for instance, according to the Linga, Maríchi springs from Brahmá's eyes, not Atri, who there proceeds, instead of Pulastya, from his ears. The Váyu has also another account of their origin, and states them to have sprung from the fires of a sacrifice offered by Brahmá; an allegorical mode of expressing their probable original, considering them to be in some degree real persons, from the Brahmanical ritual, of which they were the first institutors and observers. The Váyu P. also states, that besides the seven primitive Rishis, the Prajápatis are numerous, and specifies Kardama, Kaśyapa, Śesha, Vikránta, Susravas, Bahuputra, Kumára, Vivaswat, Suchisravas, Práchetasa (Daksha), Arisht́anemi, Bahula. These and many others were Prajápatis. In the beginning of the Mahábhárata (A. P.) we have again a different origin, and first Daksha, the son of Prachetas, it is said, had seven sons, after whom the twenty-one Prajápatis were born, or appeared. According to the commentator, the seven sons of Daksha were the allegorical persons Krodha, Tamas, Dama, Vikrita, Angiras, Kardama, and Aswa; and the twenty-one Prajápatis, the seven usually specified Maríchi and the rest, and the fourteen Manus. This looks like a blending of the earlier and later notions.