Markandeyapurana 47
English (machine translation) 47
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Contents
47.1
Krauṣṭuki said: / How did the blessed lord, the first creator, Brahmā, / Prajāpati, the lord, the god, create creatures? Tell me that in detail.
47.2
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / I will tell you, O brahmin, how the blessed, eternal creator of the worlds / created the entire world, both stationary and moving.
47.3
At the dissolution at the end of the Pādma, having awakened from his night's sleep, / Brahmā, then prevailing with goodness, beheld the world empty.
47.4
In this matter they cite this verse concerning Nārāyaṇa, / the god who has the form of Brahman, the source and dissolution of the universe:
47.5
“Waters are called nārāḥ, for they are bodies: so have we heard the name of the waters; / and because he sleeps upon them, he is therefore remembered as Nārāyaṇa.”
47.6
Having awakened, perceiving that the earth had sunk into those waters, / he then wished to raise up the earth by inference.
47.7
Just as in earlier times at the beginnings of kalpas he assumed other bodies / such as the fish, the tortoise, and the like, so he took on the form of a boar.
47.8
Composed of the Veda and sacrifice, the divine, all-pervading origin of all, / assuming a form made of the Veda and sacrifice, entered the waters.
47.9
Having lifted the earth from Pātāla, the lord of the world released it on the water, / while being contemplated by the perfected ones residing in the Janaloka.
47.10
It remained on the flood of waters like a great ship; / because of the vastness of its body, the earth does not sink.
47.11
Then, having leveled the ground, he created the mountains on the earth; / for when the earlier creation was being burned by the fire of cosmic dissolution,
47.12
those mountains were shattered everywhere upon the earth by that fire; / the rocks were submerged in the single ocean, and the waters were massed together by the wind.
47.13
Wherever they became fastened, there they became mountains. / Then, having made the division of the earth adorned with seven continents,
47.14
he fashioned the four worlds beginning with Bhūr as before. / As he was contemplating creation, just as formerly at the beginnings of kalpas,
47.15
there appeared from him an unreflective [creation] consisting of darkness: / ignorance, delusion, great delusion, darkness, and blind-darkness.
47.16
This fivefold ignorance appeared from the great-souled one; / as he meditated, a fivefold, unconscious creation stood forth.
47.17
Lacking light both externally and internally, enveloped in nature, consisting of trees and mountains; / and because trees and mountains are called mukhyas, this is the primary creation (mukhyasarga).
47.18
Seeing that creation to be ineffective, he thought of another; / as he contemplated creation, the creation of animals (tiryak-srotas) arose.
47.19
Because their movement is horizontal, it is called the horizontal stream (tiryak-srotas). / They are well-known as beasts and the like, abounding mostly in darkness and without understanding.
47.19.p1
Following the wrong path, they think themselves wise in their ignorance,
47.20
full of egoism, proud of themselves, and of twenty-eight kinds.
47.21
They are all luminous within, but mutually veiled. / Considering that [creation] also incapable of accomplishing [the goal], another arose as he meditated.
47.22
The third, the upward stream (ūrdhva-srotas), arose consisting of sattva. / They abound in happiness and pleasure, and are unveiled both within and without.
47.23
Those originating from the upward stream are luminous both within and without. / The third is endowed with contentment; it is indeed remembered as the divine creation.
47.24
Joy arose in Brahmā when that creation was accomplished. / Then he meditated upon another, excellent creation capable of accomplishing [the goal].
47.25
As he thus meditated—he whose meditation is true— / there then appeared from the Unmanifest the downward stream (arvāk-srotas), which is capable of accomplishing [the goal].
47.26
Because they move downwards, they are called the downward stream. / They abound in light, are rich in darkness, and have an excess of rajas.
47.27
Therefore they abound in suffering and act again and again. / They are luminous within and without—human beings, and they are capable of accomplishing [the goal].
47.28
The fifth is the creation of grace (anugraha); it is fourfold: / by contrariety, by perfection, by tranquility, and also by contentment.
47.29
Furthermore, they know what has happened and what is occurring now. / The sixth creation is declared to be that of the elements, elemental beings, and the like.
47.30
They are all appropriating, delight in distribution, / and are impelled and impetuous—they should be known as the elemental beings and the like.
47.31
The first creation of Brahmā is to be known as that of Mahat. / The second is that of the subtle elements (tanmātras), which is called the creation of the elements.
47.32
The third is the transformational (vaikārika) creation, known as that of the sense organs. / Thus this primary creation (prākṛta-sarga) arose, preceded by intellect.
47.33
The fourth is the primary creation (mukhya-sarga); the immovable things are indeed remembered as primary. / That which is called the horizontal stream is the fifth, consisting of animals.
47.34
Likewise, that of the upward stream is the sixth, remembered as the divine creation. / Then the creation of the downward stream is the seventh, and that is the human one.
47.35
The eighth is the creation of grace, both sāttvika and tāmasa. / These five are secondary creations (vaikṛta), and three are remembered as primary (prākṛta).
47.36
The ninth, both primary and secondary, is remembered as the Kaumāra creation. / Thus these nine creations of the Lord of Creatures have been declared.
47.36.p1
Thus ends the forty-seventh chapter, named “Primary and Secondary Creation”, in the glorious Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.
47.36.p2
Chapter Forty-Eight - 48
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit