Skandapurana 16.20

Īśvara said: / Now the order of the daitya descents is recounted again. / King Hiraṇyakaśipu reigned for a hundred million years.

Likewise, for some seventy-two hundred thousand / and eighty thousand years, he was lord of the three worlds.

On the day of the Soma pressing during the Atirātra in the Aśvamedha of Kaśyapa,

the golden seat that was placed there for the Hotṛ priest— / there Hiraṇyakaśipu sat down on that seat.

He performed extremely arduous austerity for a hundred thousand years; / previously, he had remained in Diti's womb for ten thousand years.

An ancient verse is sung regarding the daitya Hiraṇyakaśipu: / 'Whichever direction King Hiraṇyakaśipu looks upon,

in that very direction the gods bowed along with the seers.' / In his turn, Bali again became king for a hundred million years,

and sixty thousand and thirty million years— / for that long Bali's sovereign rule lasted.

Prahlāda was restrained by the gods during that time; / Indra and the other celebrated ones slew the asuras with their might.

All this was held by the daityas for ten yugas, they say; / thereafter, it was entirely without rival for eighteen yugas again.

This threefold world was ruled unperturbed by Mahendra. / In the tenth Tretāyuga, the mighty Kārttavīrya [arose],

a king of men for eighty-five thousand years; / possessing the seven jewels, he was an emperor and universal monarch.

Bearing sword, shield, and bow, riding a chariot, / that king with his retinue perceived thieves through yoga across the seven continents.

Men never suffer the loss of property merely by remembering him. / When four yugas had passed in the reign of the eleventh sovereign Manu,

when that Dvāpara had proceeded with half remaining, / the son of Nariṣyanta, son of Manu, was indeed Mada.

His ninth descendant was known as Tṛṇabindu; / at the beginning of the third Tretāyuga he was born as king.

His daughter, however, was Ilavilā, who was peerless in beauty. / That royal sage gave that daughter in marriage to Pulastya.

From her was born the seer Viśravas, son of Ilavilā. / He had three wives who adorned the lineage of Pulastya:

The auspicious daughter of Bṛhaspati named Vedavarṇinī, / and Puṣpotkaṭā and Vīkā, both daughters of Mālyavat.

Kekasī was the daughter of Mālin; hear, O goddess, about the offspring born from her. / That fair-complexioned woman bore to him her eldest son, Vaiśravaṇa,

having eight teeth, a yellowish beard, peg-like ears, and a reddish hue, / with dog-like feet, short arms, tawny-eyed, adorned with pure ornaments,

having three legs, a huge body, a thick head, and large jaws. / Seeing such a son, deformed in his appearance,

he himself, upon seeing him then, said: 'This is Kubera.' / The word 'ku' is used in contempt, and the body is called 'bera';

because he possessed an ugly body, he was marked by that name 'Kubera.' / His wife was Vṛddhi, and his son was Nalakūbara.

Kekasī gave birth to a son, Rāvaṇa, the lord of the rākṣasas, / having peg-like ears, ten necks, tawny-eyed, and with red hair,

having eight feet, twenty arms, a huge body, and immense strength, / resembling black collyrium, having fangs, and red eyes,

endowed with the fiery energy, form, and strength of a rākṣasa. / Fierce and cruel by nature, he was called Rāvaṇa because of his causing lamentation.

In his previous birth, that rākṣasa had indeed been King Hiraṇyakaśipu. / As a king and as a rākṣasa, he ruled for fourteen caturyugas:

fifty million years have been computed by count, O beloved, / and sixty-one hundred-thousands, as stated by the reckoners,

and also sixty thousand years—for that long, indeed, Rāvaṇa / kept up a terrible vigil of harassment against the gods and the seers.

In the twenty-fourth Tretāyuga, on account of the exhaustion of his austerity, / Rāvaṇa encountered Rāma, son of Daśaratha, and went to destruction along with his host.

He who was the ten-necked crusher of foes, O goddess, / was reborn as the son of the royal sage Damaghoṣa, renowned for his manly valour,

born of Śrutaśravā as the Caidya prince Śiśupāla. / Kekasī gave birth to Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, and a daughter, Śūrpaṇakhā,

and Vibhīṣaṇa as the fourth son. / Manohara, Prahasta, Mahāpārśva, and Khara—

these were the sons of Puṣpotkaṭā, and Kumbhīnasī was her daughter. / Triśiras, Dūṣaṇa, and the rākṣasa Vidyujjihva, / and one daughter named Śyāmikā, are recorded as the offspring of Vīkā.

Thus, these nine descendants of Pulastya were rākṣasas of cruel deeds; / Vibhīṣaṇa, pure in mind, is proclaimed as the tenth.

The sons of Pulaha were all deer, carnivorous beasts with fangs, / bhūtas, piśācas, serpents, boars, and elephants.

Kratu, however, is remembered as childless in this Vaivasvata Manvantara. / Atri had ten wives, all beautiful and devoted to their husband.

From Bhadrāśva and ending with Ghṛtācī, ten apsarases were born:

Bhadrā, Śūdrā, Madrā, Naladā, Jaladā, / Urṇā, Pūrṇā, and, O ruler of the gods, she who is known as Gopucchalā,

and also the one named Tāmarasā, and the tenth, Raktakoṭikā. / Their renowned husband, O great goddess, was Prabhākara.

When the sun was struck down by Svarbhānu and fell from heaven to this earth, / he by whom light was restored when this world was overcome by darkness,

and to the sun as it was falling down here, it was said, 'May it be well with you!' / and by the word of that brahmin seer, the lord did not fall—

therefore that lord was called 'Prabhākara' ('maker of light') by the great seers. / On Bhadrā he begat a glorious son, Soma,

who was radiant, a son of Dharma, the excellent god Soma, / the cool-rayed night-wanderer, who arose among the Kṛttikās.

The father of Soma, O goddess, was known to be the venerable seer Atri. / There Atri, having held the lord of all worlds, remained in his own eyes.

In action, mind, and speech he practiced only auspicious things. / Becoming like a piece of wood, a wall, or a stone, with arms raised high, possessed of great splendor,

great austerity named Sudustara ('most difficult to perform') was practiced by him of old / for three thousand divine years, O beauty of the gods.

For him who had sublimated his virility, standing there without blinking, / the body of that one of great intellect attained the state of Soma, O auspicious one.

The semen of him whose self had become Soma mounted upward; / from his eyes Soma flowed forth, illuminating the ten directions.

Seeing that embryo according to the cosmic ordinance, the ten directions then conceived it; / coming together, they bore it, but they were not able to hold it.

That eternal embryo fell suddenly from those directions to this earth, / the cool-rayed one who brings life to all, causing the worlds to flourish.

When those women were unable to bear his embryo, / then that cool-rayed one fell from them onto the earth.

Seeing Soma fallen, Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / mounted him on a chariot out of a desire for the welfare of the worlds.

At that very time, by me, O goddess, he whose vow is truth was provided, / for the sake of dharma, with a thousand white steeds, O beauty of the gods.

When that supreme soul, the son of Atri, had descended, O goddess, / the seven mind-born sons of Brahmā who are renowned sang his praises,

as well as all the descendants of Aṅgiras and the sons of Bhṛgu, / with Ṛg verses, Sāman chants, and verses of the Atharvāṅgirases.

As he was being praised, the radiant splendor of Soma, / swelling fully, illuminated the three worlds on every side.

With that foremost chariot, that one of immense fame / circumambulated the earth bordered by the oceans twenty-one times.

Whatever splendor of his reached the earth, / plants were produced thereby, blazing again with energy.

By them he nourishes this world and the four kinds of living beings.
Annual herbs, which end when their fruit ripens, are traditionally counted as seventeen grains:

Rice, barley, wheat, small grain, and sesame;

Italian millet, kovidāra, koradūṣa, and satīnaka peas;
Black gram, mung beans, lentils, kidney beans, along with horse gram;

Pigeon peas and chickpeas: these are recorded as the seventeen grains.
These are traditionally declared to be the cultivated varieties of herbs.

And there are fourteen herbs fit for sacrifice, both cultivated and wild:
Rice, barley, wheat, small grain, and sesame;

With Italian millet as the sixth, and horse gram as the seventh;
Then śyāmāka millet, wild rice, wild sesame, along with gavedhuka grass;

Ūruvindā, markaṭaka, and bamboo-seed.
These are indeed the fourteen herbs, both cultivated and wild.

Grasses, shrubs, creeping plants, medicinal plants, climbing vines, clumps, and others by the tens of millions:
The Moon, the lord of these, sustains the entire world

With his moonbeams, the lord Soma, out of desire for the welfare of the world.
Then Brahmā, the best of the knowers of Brahman, granted him sovereignty

Over seeds, medicinal herbs, brahmins, and mantras, O fair-faced lady.
Consecrated as king over his realm, the highly radiant maker of the night,

The best of luminous bodies, caused the three worlds to prosper by his own radiance.
To him, Sinīvālī, Kuhū, Dyuti, Puṣṭi, Prabhā, Vasu,

Kīrti, Dhṛti, and Lakṣmī—nine goddesses—rendered service.
Moreover, twenty-seven daughters of Dakṣa of great vows,

Known as the asterisms, Dakṣa, son of Pracetas, gave to the Moon.
Having obtained that great sovereignty, Soma, the best of the Soma-possessors,

Performed the Rājasūya sacrifice, which has hundreds of thousands of sacrificial gifts.
Hiraṇyagarbha was the Udgātṛ priest, and Brahmā assumed the role of the Brahman priest.

The member of the assembly at his sacrifice was the blessed Lord Hari Nārāyaṇa,
Surrounded by the primordial seer-brahmins headed by Sanatkumāra.

Soma gave the three worlds as a sacrificial gift, O fair-faced lady,
To those foremost seer-brahmins and members of the sacrificial assembly, O auspicious one.

Having attained the concluding ceremonial bath, untroubled and worshiped by all the divine seers,
The emperor shone forth exceedingly, illuminating the directions tenfold.

Thereby he attained that sovereign power difficult to obtain by the unrefined.
Thus resides the Moon, renowned as the son of Atri.

Thus ends the twentieth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Origin of the Moon,' in the first [sub-section], the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.