An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.386

c5.s1.386

§ 491: With Kaçyapa, Vasiṣṭha, Prāṇa, son of Prāṇa, Agni Āṅgirasa,‖ and Cyavana Trisuvarcaka,‖ he,§ after a penance lasting for many years, obtained the son Pāñcajanya ("appertaining to five men and the progenitor of five tribes," v. 14160). Pāñcajanya (= Tapas, v. 14166-8, 14173, 14174), after 10,000 years of penances, produced the fire of the Pitṛs; from his head he created Bṛhat and Rathantara, from his mouth Vāta and Rasāhara,¶ in his navel Çiva, from his might (balād) Indra, from his soul (prāṇato) Vāyu and Agni, from his arms Anudāttau,** and Viçvett (†) and the elements (bhūtāni), and then the five sons of the Pitṛs. Bṛhadratha's son was Pranidhi, Kaçyapa's Mahattara, Āṅgiras' Bhānu, Varea's Saubhara, and Prāṇa's Anudātta.—§ 492: He also produced three times five devāḥ: Yajña-muṣaḥ ("who steal the sacrifices"), Subhīma, Atibhīma, Bhīma, Bhīmabala, Abala, Sumitra, Mitravat, Mitra-jña, Mitravardhana, Mitradharman,* Surapravīra, Vīra, Suveça, Suravarcas, and "Surāṇām api hantṛ."—§ 493: Bṛhaduktha and Rathantara (cf. § 491) or Mitravinda, sons of Tapas (III, 220). Many "fires" enumerated, among others the five Ūrjaskarāḥ (Purandara, Uṣman, Manu, Çambhu, and Āvasathya), sons of Tapas; the six sons of Bhānu with his wives Suprajā and Bṛhadbhāsā Sūryajā (Balada, Manyumat, Viṣṇu = Dhṛtimat = Āṅgiras, Agrayaṇa, Agraha, Ṣubha) Niçā was likewise the wife of Bhānu, and gave birth to one daughter, to Agni aud Soma, and to five Fires (Pāvakān). The Fire (Pāvaka) who in company with Parjanya is honoured with the first havis at the Cāturmāsyas is Agni Vaiçvānara. He who is called the lord of all the world is Viçvapati, the second son of Manu, etc. (III, 221). Genealogy of the Fires continued. The Fire Saha, from fear of his grandson the Fire Bhārata (Bhara, Niyata), who burns the dead bodies, hid himself in the sea,† asking Atharvan to carry the oblations to the gods. When his place of concealment had been divulged by the fishes, Saha cursed them, saying that they should become the food of all creatures in various ways. Then Saha gave up his body and entered the earth, where he created various metals: from his pus (pūyāt) force (tejaḥ) and scent, from his bones the devadāru, from his phlegm glass (sphāṭikam), from his bile mārakata, from his liver the black iron, the clouds from his nails, the corals from his veins, etc., and remained absorbed in meditation, whence he was roused by the tapas of Bhṛgu, Āṅgiras, etc. Seeing the ṛṣi (i.e. Atharvāṅgirasa, Nil. = Atharvan, PCR.), he again took refuge in the water. The whole world with the gods sought the protection of Atharvan, who searched the sea, and finding the Fire, created the worlds (so Nil. and PCR.). So Agni was formerly destroyed by Atharvan, and called back (āhūtaḥ (?), PCR.) he carries the oblations, and travelling about various countries and living there (i.e. in the sea, PCR.), he produced the various fires mentioned in the Vedas.—§ 494: Enumeration of rivers that are said to be the mothers of the fires. The wife of Adbhuta was Priyā, and his son Vibhūrasi (14234). There are as many somas (i.e. kinds of soma sacrifices, Nil. and PCR.) as the number of fires mentioned. Also in the race of Atri [these] mind-born sons of Brahmān (?)† sprang forth. Atri, wishing to procreate sons, conceived these [fires] in his mind, and the fires came out of his, the brahman's, body.‖ The powers of these fires are the same as those of the Adbhuta fire as related in the Vedas, for they are all one and the same, the first Āṅgiras, sprung from [his] body in various forms like the jyotiṣṭoma sacrifice (III, 222).