Vishnupurana 1.5.9
Viṣṇupurāṇa (vulgate) 1.5.9
- Language
- Sanskrit
1.5.9
tasyābhidhyāyataḥ sargastiryakstrotobhyavartata /
yasmāttiryakpravṛttisya tiryakstrotāstataḥ smṛtaḥ //
Whilst he (Brahmá) formerly, in the beginning of the Kalpas, was. meditating on creation, there appeared a creation beginning with ignorance, and consisting of darkness. From that great being appeared fivefold Ignorance, consisting of obscurity, illusion, extreme illusion, gloom, utter darkness. The creation of the creator thus plunged in abstraction, was the fivefold (immovable) world, without intellect or reflection, void of perception or sensation, incapable of feeling, and destitute of motion. Since immovable things were first created, this is called the first creation. Brahmá, beholding that it was defective, designed another; and whilst he thus meditated, the animal creation was manifested, to the products of which the term Tiryaksrotas is applied, from their nutriment following a winding course. These were called beasts, &c., and their characteristic was the quality of darkness, they being destitute of knowledge, uncontrolled in their conduct, and mistaking error for wisdom; being formed of egotism and self-esteem, labouring under the twenty-eight kinds of imperfection, manifesting inward sensations, and associating with each other (according to their kinds).
Translations (2)
- The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, English
- A Prose English Translation of Vishnupuranam — Manmatha Nath Dutt 1896, English
Other recensions (1)
- Viṣṇupurāṇa (critical edition) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Liṅgapurāṇa — Ativīrarāma Pāṇṭiyar 1500, Sanskrit