150:23 We have a considerable variation here in the commentary, and it may be doubted if the allusion in the text is accurately explained by either of the versions. In one it is said that 'Brahmá, the grandsire of p. 151 the Gandharbas, &c., appointed the seven Rishis, who were born in a former Manwantara, to be his sons, or to be the intermediate agents in creation: he created no other beings himself, being engrossed by the sacrificial ceremony.' Instead of "putratwe," 'in the state of sons,' the reading is sometimes "pitratwe," 'in the character of fathers;' that is, to all other beings. Thus the gods and the rest, who in a former Manwantara originated from Kaśyapa, were created in the present period as the offspring of the seven Rishis. The other explanation agrees with the preceding in ascribing the birth of all creatures to the intermediate agency of the seven Rishis, but calls them the actual sons of Brahmá, begotten at the sacrifice of Vanilla, in the sacrificial fire. The authority for the story is not given, beyond its being in other Puráńas, it has the air of a modern mystification. The latter member of the passage is separated altogether from the foregoing, and carried on to what follows: thus; "In the war of the Gandharbas, serpents, gods, and demons, Diti having lost her children," &c.; the word 'virodha' being understood, it is said, This is defended by the authority of the Hari Vanśa, where the passage occurs word for word, except in the last half stanza, which, instead of ### occurs ###. The parallel passages are thus rendered by M. Langlois: 'Le Mouni Swarotchicha avoit cessé de régner quand cette création eut lieu: c’était sous l’empire du Menou Vevaswata le sacrifice de Varouna avait commencé. La première création fut celle de Brahmá, quand il jugea qu’il était temps de procéder à son sacrifice, et que, souverain aïeul du monde, il forma lui-même dans sa pensée et enfanta les sept Brahmarchis.'

152:24 This legend occurs in all those Puráńas in which the account of Kaśyapa's family is related.

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Hinduism

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