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.

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Hinduism

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