269:11 Son of Ravi, by the goddess Bhútí, according to the Váyu; but the Márkańd́eya makes Bhútí the son of Angiras, whose pupil Śánti, having suffered the holy fire to go out in his master's absence, prayed to Agni, and so propitiated him, that he not only relighted the flame, but desired Śánti to demand a further boon. Śánti accordingly solicited a son for his Guru; which son was Bhúti, the father of the Manu Bhautya.

269:12 Although the Puráńas which give an account of the Manwantaras agree in some of the principal details, yet in the minor ones they offer many varieties, some of which have been noticed. These chiefly regard the first six and the eighth. Except in a few individual peculiarities, the authorities seem to arrange themselves in two classes; one comprehending the Vishńu, Váyu, Kúrma, Bhágavata, and Márkańd́eya; and the other the Matsya, Padma, Bráhma, and Hari Vanśa. The Márkańd́eya, although it agrees precisely with the Vishńu in its nomenclature, differs from it, and from all, in devoting a considerable number of its pages to legends of the origin of the Manus, all of which are evidently of comparatively recent invention, and several of which have been no doubt suggested by the etymology of the names of the Manus.

270:13 A thousand ages of the gods and fourteen Manwantaras are not precisely the same thing, as has been already explained. (See p. 24. n. 6.)

270:14 The order of the text would imply, that as Brahmá he sleeps upon Śesha; but if this be intended, it is at variance with the usual legend, that it is as Vishńu or Náráyańa that the deity sleeps in the intervals of dissolution. The commentator accordingly qualifies the phrase Brahmarúpadhara by the term Divá: 'Vishńu wears the form of Brahmá by day; by night he sleeps on Śesha, in the person of Náráyańa.' This however may be suspected to be an innovation upon an older system; for in speaking of the alternations of creation and dissolution, they are always considered as consentaneous with the day and night of Brahmá alone.

270:15 As a Chakravarttin.

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Hinduism

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