Skandapurana 1.2.8

Nandikeśvara said:

"By asking about the Aruṇācalamāhātmya in detail,

O Mārkaṇḍeya, I think a great burden has been placed upon me by you. / 1

Fittingly has your mind been drawn by curiosity, O highly intelligent one;

That man who does not know the acts of the Lord of the Crimson Mountain is an animal. / 2

Or how is it possible to tell completely, even if one knows,

The glorious māhātmya of Śambhu who frequents the Crimson Mountain? / 3

Or how could this, even when heard,

Be fully retained in mind by those filled with wonder, even the foremost of the wise? / 4

Now remember the wondrous deed of the enemy of Smara;

my mind truly dances, as if experiencing the supreme nectar. // 5

The wondrous acts of Śiva captivate the mind;

my intellect is altogether incapable of describing them completely. // 6

Even so, I shall proclaim them part by part according to my capacity;

hear, O sage, the holy māhātmya of the Lord of Śoṇādri. // 7

Formerly, at the beginning of the primeval aeon, Maheśvara, free from conceptual distinction,

by his own will brought forth the entire universe once again. // 8

And desiring ever to create and protect that manifested universe,

that primal god fashioned Brahmā and Viṣṇu. // 9

From his right side the three-eyed Lord created Brahmā,

and from his left side the god created Viṣṇu. // 10

He joined Brahmā with rajas, and Viṣṇu with sattva;

both Brahmā and Acyuta, appointed by the God of gods, // 11

ruled over the performance of creation and protection of all the worlds.

Merely with his mind, [Brahmā] created the ten brahmins beginning with Marīci; // 12

and from his right thumb the Creator brought forth Dakṣa for the work of creation.

From his mouth [he created] the brahmins, from his arms the kṣatriyas, from his thighs the vaiśyas, // 13

and from his feet the lotus-seated one himself fashioned the śūdras.

From Kaśyapa, the son of Marīci, the gods and asuras were born, // 14

as well as the Maruts, serpents, vultures, gandharvas, and apsarases,

and Manu, whose lineage this human race carries on. // 15

Assuming diverse kinships, initiating diverse activities;

and from Atri arose a twofold lineage: of seers and of warriors. // 16

And from Pulastya and Pulaha were born yakṣas and rākṣasas;

from the sage Aṅgiras were born sons headed by Utathya and Bṛhaspati. // 17

From Bhṛgu arose Agni, and seers beginning with Cyavana;

and from Vasiṣṭha and the other [sages] were born great seers, // 18

by whose sons and grandsons this entire world is filled.

Thus Brahmā filled this world with his offspring;

yet through time and also through splendour he forgot Maheśvara. // 19

Acyuta, too, having married the daughter of Bhṛgu who abides in the lotus,

and assuming forms such as the Fish in the world, did not remember Īśvara. // 20

Having indeed acquired autonomy through creation and preservation, Brahmā and Viṣṇu

bore immense pride; what mortal would not become intoxicated by power? // 21

Thus ends the eighth chapter, named 'Description of Creation', in the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.