Vishnupurana 1.15.14

The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition 1.15.14

Language: English

1.15.14

Then, Maitreya, the wise patriarch, it is handed down to us, being anxious to people the world, created sixty daughters of the daughter of Vírańá; ten of whom he gave to Dharma, thirteen to Kaśyapa, and twenty-seven to Soma, four to Arisht́anemi, two to Bahuputra, two to Angiras, and two to Kriśáśwa. I will tell you their names. Arundhat́í, Vasu, Yámí, Lambá, Bhánú, Marutwatí, Sankalpa, Muhúrttá, Sádhyá, and Viśwá were the ten wives of Dharma, and bore him the following progeny. The sons of Viśwá were the Viśwádevas; and the Sádhyas, those of Sádhyá. The Máruts, or winds, were the children of Marutwatí; the Vasus, of Vasu. The Bhánus (or suns) of Bhánu; and the deities presiding over moments, of Muhúrttá. Ghosha was the son of Lambá (an arc of the heavens); Nágavíthí (the milky way), the daughter of Yámí (night). The divisions of the earth were born of Arundhat́i; and Sankalpa (pious purpose), the soul of all, was the son of Sankalpá. The deities called Vasus, because, preceded by fire, they abound in splendour and might, are severally named Ápa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhava (fire), Anila (wind), Anala (fire), Pratyúsha (day-break), and Prabhása (light). The four sons of Ápa were Vaitańd́ya, Śrama (weariness), Sránta (fatigue), and Dhur (burthen). Kála (time), the cherisher of the world, was the son of Dhruva. The son of Soma was Varchas (light), who was the father of Varchaswí (radiance). Dhava had, by his wife Manohará (loveliness), Dravińa, Hutahavyaváha, Śiśira, Práńa, and Ramańa. The two sons of Anila (wind), by his wife Śivá, were Manojava (swift as thought) and Avijnátagati (untraceable motion). The son of Agni (fire), Kumára, was born in a clump of Śara reeds: his sons were Sákha, Visákha, Naigameya, and Prisht́haja. The offspring of the Krittikás was named Kártikeya. The son of Pratyúsha was the Rishi named Devala, who had two philosophic and intelligent sons. The sister of Váchaspati, lovely and virtuous, Yogasiddhá, who pervades the wholes world without being devoted to it, was the wife of Prabhása, the eighth of the Vasus, and bore to him the patriarch Viswakarmá, the author of a thousand arts, the mechanist of the gods, the fabricator of all ornaments, the chief of artists, the constructor of the self-moving chariots of the deities, and by whose skill men obtain subsistence. Ajaikapád, Ahirvradhna, and the wise Rudra Twasht́ri, were born; and the self-born son of Twashtri was also the celebrated Viśwarúpa. There are eleven well-known Rudras, lords of the three worlds, or Hara, Bahurúpa, Tryambaka, Aparájita, Vrishakapi, Sambhu, Kaparddí, Raivata, Mrigavyádha, Sarva, and Kapáli; but there are a hundred appellations of the immeasurably mighty Rudras.

1.15.14.n1

The prior specification (p. 115) was fifty. The Mahábhárata, Adi P. 113, and, again, Moksha Dharma, has the same number. The Bhágavata, Kúrma, Padma, Linga, and Váyu P. state sixty. The former is perhaps the original, as the fullest and most consistent details relate to them and their posterity.

1.15.14.n2

This is the usual list of Dharma's wives. The Bhágavata substitutes Kakud for Arundhat́í. The Padma P., Matsya P., and Hari Vanśa contain two different account of Daksha's descendants: the first agrees with our text; the second, which is supposed to occur in the Padma Kalpa, is somewhat varied, particularly as to the wives of Dharma, who are said to be five. The nomenclature varies, or,

1.15.14.n3

The Viśwádevas are a class of gods to whom sacrifices should be offered daily. Manu, III. 121. They are named in some of the Puráńas, as the Váyu and Matsya: the former specifying ten; the latter, twelve.

1.15.14.n4

The Sádhyas, according to the Váyu, are the personified rites and prayers of the Vedas, born of the metres, and partakers of the sacrifices. The same work names twelve, which are all names of sacrifices and formulæ, as Darśa, Paurnamása, Vrihadaśwa, Rathantara, &c. The Matsya P., Padma P., and Hari V. have a different set of seventeen appellations, apparently of arbitrary selection, as Bhava, Prabhava, Íśa, Aruńi, &c.

1.15.14.n5

Or, according to the Padma P., because they are always present in light, or luminous irradiation.

1.15.14.n6

The Váyu supplies their names, Kshamávartta (patient) and Manaswin (wise).

1.15.14.n7

The passage is, ### Whose sons they are does not appear; the object being, according to the comment, to specify only the eleven divisions or modifications of the youngest Rudra, Twasht́a.' We have, however, an unusual variety of reading here in two copies of the comment: 'The eleven Rudras, in whom the family of Twasht́ri (a synonyme, it may be observed, sometimes of Viswakarmá) is included, were born. The enumeration of the Rudras ends with Aparájita, of whom Tryambaka is the epithet.' Accordingly the three last names in all the other copies of the text are omitted in these two; their places being supplied by the three first, two of whom are always named in the lists of the Rudras. According to the Váyu and Bráhma P. the Rudras are the children of Kaśyapa by Surabhi: the Bhágavata makes them the progeny of Bhúta and Sarúpá: the Matsya, Padma, and Hari V., in the second series, the offspring of Surabhi by Brahmá. The names in three of the Pauráńic authorities run thus:

1.15.14.n8

The posterity of Daksha's daughters by Dharma are clearly allegorical personifications chiefly of two classes, one consisting of astronomical phenomena, and the other of portions or subjects of the ritual of the Vedas.

Linked texts (1)

Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit