History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.115

v7.c95.115

The first three chapters (containing about 240 verses) of the Brahmapurāṇa deal with creation. Chap. 1 (verses 34 ff) puts forward Brahmā as the creator of all *bhūtas* (beings) and as devotee of Nārāyaṇa and then states that ahaṅkāra arose from mahat and from ahaṅkāra the elements were produced. The Brahma like the Matsya closely follows (in I. 37-41) Manu I. 5-13. It refers to the creation of the seven sages Marīci, Atri and others who were seven Brahmāṇaḥ, the creation of Sādhyas, gods, the Ṛgveda and other Vedas, birds and all sorts of beings; it also states (I. 53) that Viṣṇu created Virāj, who created Puruṣa (this is based on the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg. X. 90. 5) and that Puruṣa created people. Chapter 2 states that Puruṣa married Śatarūpā, that Puruṣa is called Svāyambhuva Manu, that a son Vīra was born to Puruṣa and Śatarūpā and Vīra's two sons were Priyavrata and Uttānapāda; then their descendants are described, that Dakṣa had 50 daughters 10 of whom were married to Dharma, 13 to Kaśyapa and 27 (the nakṣatras) were married to king Soma. Chapter 3 deals with the creation of gods and asuras.²⁴⁷⁷