Studies in the Epics and Puranas c8.83

c8.83

Cosmological speculations in the Great Epic do not seem to have ever won general acceptance as authoritative expositions of the subject. The cosmogonic accounts in the Manusmṛti, however, appear to have gained firm footing, as parts of them are quoted in a great number of medieval works. In order, therefore, to illustrate the state of views on cosmogony prevailing before the time when the Purāṇas took their present shape, the Manusmṛti may serve as a guide. The following is a brief sketch from the Manusmṛti: "This (universe) existed in the shape of darkness unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed as it were in deep sleep.....He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, first with a thought created the waters and placed his seed in them. That seed became a golden egg equal to the sun in brilliancy; in that egg he himself was born as Brahmā, the progenitor of the whole world....that divine one who resided in the egg divided it into two halves, from which he formed heaven and earth, and between them the middle sphere, the eight points of the horizon and the eternal abode of the waters....Thence he drew forth the mind, the self-sense, and then the great principal soul and all products affected by the three qualities, and in their order the five organs which perceive the objects of sensation.⁴¹ To the waters was given the name "Nārā", because they were the off-spring of Nara; and because they were his first dwelling place, Brahmā is called Nārāyaṇa, which in later times was applied to Viṣṇu.⁴² There is yet another version of creation in the *Manusmṛti*.⁴³ Brahmā divided his own body into two: one half male and the other half female. With the female portion he produced Virāj. Manu is referred to as the Creator of the universe and as produced by Virāj. Once produced, Manu performed austerities, and thereby brought into being the ten Prajāpatis,⁴⁴ who in their turn, created seven other Manus and also gods and sages of boundless might, demons, etc. Thus it was that the whole creation, mobile and immobile, was brought into existence by the ten Prajāpatis by means of austerities. Bhṛgu supplies us with the third account of creation in the *Manusmṛti*.⁴⁵ He says that when the night of Brahmā is over, god awakes from sleep and once more begins a fresh creation. First of all he creates *manas*. *Manas*, influenced by Brahmā's desire to create, proceeds to create and *ākāśa* is produced. From it comes *vāyu*; from *vāyu*, *jyotiḥ* which dispels darkness; from *jyotiḥ*, *āpaḥ*; and from *āpaḥ*, *bhūmi*; in this way is the universe formed. In conclusion, it may be observed that Colebrooke is certainly right in asserting that we have in Manu the Purāṇik Sāṅkhya mixed up with the Vedānta.⁴⁶