Markandeyapurana 47.21

47.21

antaḥ prakāśāste sarve āvṛtāstu parasparam /
tamapyasādhakaṃ matvā dhyāyato 'nyastato 'bhavat //

He considered that creation incapable of causation,[9] and thought of creating another yet. While he was meditating on its creation, the animal world, in which the stream of life[10] is horizontal,[11] came next into existence. Since its activities are displayed horizontally, hence it[12] is known as the “tiryak-srotas.” Cattle and other quadrupeds are well-known as being of that kind; they are indeed characterized chiefly by ignorance and are unintelligent; and they stray in wrong courses, and in their ignorance are subservient to knowledge; they are self-swayed, and devoted to self; they comprise twenty-eight classes. They all possess light[6] internally, but they are mutually circumscribed.[13]

He thought even that creation was incapable of causation, and while he meditated, another came into existence; now this, the third, was the group of beings in which the stream of life passed upwards;[14] it was characterized chiefly by goodness. Those beings abound in pleasure and affection; they are uncircumscribed outwardly and inwardly; and possess light[6] externally and internally; they originated from an upward stream of life. Now that third creation of the Supreme Being who was satisfied in soul thereat is known as the creation of the gods. When that creation came into being, Brahmā was pleased.