46 - The computation of Brahma's life 

Märkandeya moralizes on Brahma and Prakriti -and describes Vishnu and Shiva as special forms of Brahma --He explains how human and divine years are reckoned, the duration of the four ages, the Kruita, the Treta, the Dvapara and the kali, and of a Manvantara, anf the length of Brahma’s Day and life. 

Kraushţuki spoke.

1 Adorable Sir! thou hast related to me correctly the genesis of the egg, and thou hast told me of the birth of the mighty

2 Soul Brahmá within the egg of Brahmá. I wish to hear this from thee, O scion of Bhruigu's race, when things are not created, and nothing exists, everything having been destroyed by Time at the end of the dissolution of the Universe. 

Márkandeya spoke.

3       When all this universe becomes dissolved in Nature, * this

                  * Prakriti.

4 dissolution is designated 'natural’ † by the wise. When the Imperceptible subsists within itself, and when all modificaion is suspended, Nature and the Soul †† subsist with sameness

† P'rákrita. 

†† Purusha.

5. of character. Then both darkness and goodness subsist in equipoise, neither being in excess or in deficiency, and

6. permeated by each other. Just as oil exists in sesamum seeds, or as ghee in milk, so passion also exists permanent within darkness and goodness. 

7.      The day of the Supreme Lord § lasts from the birth of Brahmá, as long as the two half paras which compose his life;|| and his night during the dissolution is of the same

                  § Paresha.

|| The text seems incorrect; a better reading obtained from a MS. belonging to Babu Nagendra Chandra Basu of Calcutta is utpatter for utpattir, and ayur vai for ayusho. See verse 42.

8. duration. ¶ Now at the dawn of day he awakes, he who is the origin of the universe, who is without beginning, who is the cause of all things, whose soul transcends thought; everyone else works in an inferior way.

¶ The same MS. reads tat-samah samayo instead of tat-sama samyame; with practically the same meaning. 

9 The Supreme God, quickly enters into Nature and the Soul, as the lord of the universe, and agitates them with his intense

10 supernatural powers. Just as love, or a breeze of Spring, entering into young women tends to produce agitation, so does he, who is the embodiment of supernatural power.

11 When Pradhana is agitated, the god Brahmá is born and is contained within the cavity of the egg, as I have already 

12 told thee. At first, he is the agitator; as the husband of Nature, he is the thing to be agitated; and he exists with

13 contraction and expansion even in the state of Pradhána. He is born, tough he is the birth-place of the universe; though devoid of qualities, he possesses the quality of passion; when he assumes the character of Brahma, he engages in creation.

14 In the character of Brahmá he creates man kind; then possessing an excess of goodness, he becomes Vishnu and

15 protects them righteously; then, with darkness preponderating in him, he as Rudra dissolves the whole universe with its three worlds, and sleeps. He possesses the three qualities,

16 and yet he is destitute of qualities. Just as he is at first the pervading Soul, then the preserver, and lastly the destroyer, * so he takes appellations which designate him as Brahmá,

* Lavaka (from lú), one who cuts to pieces, ono who destroys. Would not layaka (from li) be better, one who brings on the dissolution? 

17 Vishnu or Shiva. As Brahmá he creates the world; and as Rudra he destroys them; and as Vishnu he holds a neutral position. These are the three conditions of the Self-existent.

18 Passion and Brahmá; darkness and Rudra; goodness and Vishnu the lord of the world: these indeed are the three

19 deities; these indeed are the three qualities. These verily are mutually paired and are mutually dependant: they are not separated for a moment; they do not forsake one another. 

20 Thus Brahmá, the four-faced god of gods, is anterior to the universe: assuming the quality of passion, he engages in creation. 

21 Brahmá who is adored as Hiranya-garbha, the first of the gods, and without beginning, who sits in the middle of the

22 lotus-like earth was born in the beginning. One hundred years in the full length of life for him, the high-souled, according to the true Bráhmya computation. Hear from me how it is reckoned.

 23 A káshthá is said to be composed of fifteen winks of the eyelids; and thirty káshthás make a kalá; and thirty such

24 kalás make a muhúrta. A day and night among men contain it has been settled, thirty muhúrtas; and with thirty days

 25 are reckoned the two lunar fortnights and the month; of six months consists of the sun's half-yearly course; the two half-yearly courses on the south and north of the equator compose the year. Such a year is a day and night of the gods; * the day thereof is the sun's northern half-yearly course.

                  * Thus, one divine year - 360 human years. 

26 Now of twelve thousand divine years consists of the four ages named the Kruita, the Tretá, &c. Hear from me how they are divided.

27 Now the Kruita age is said to have contained four thousand years; its commencing twilight was four hundred years, and

28 the closing twilight was of the same duration. The Tretá age was three thousand divine years; and three hundred years was its commencing twilight, which was indeed of that duration, and its closing twilight was of the same duration.

29 The Dvápara age was two thousand years; and its commencing twilight is declared to have been two hundred years, and

30 its closing twilight was two hundred years. The Kali age is a thousand divine years, O brahman; two hundred of years are called its commencing and closing twilights. 

31 This period of twelve thousand divine years is called a yuga; it has been laid down by the poets; a thousand times this period is called one of Brahma's days. 

32 In one of Brahma’s days, O brahman, there may be fourteen Manus. They live according to their portions; that

33 thousand is divided among them. The gods, the seven ruishis, and Indra, Manu, and the kings his sons, are created with Manu and pass to dissolution with him in regular order.

34 Seventy-one repetitions of the four ages, with a fraction in excess, constitute a manvantara; hear from me its computation in

35 human years. Thirty full crores reckoned duly, O brahman,

36 and sixty-seven lakhs more by reckoning, and twenty thousand --this is the period of seventy-one times the four ages without the excess fraction; this is called a manvantara.

37 Hear it from me in divine years; eight hundred thousand of years by divine reckoning, * and fifty-two thousand of

* This line as it stands in the text seems incorrect. The four ages consist in 12,000 divine years or 4,320,000 human years, and 71 times this period maintain 8,52,000 divine years, or 306,720,000 human years. This latter period agrees with the enumeration in verse 36 (viz., 30,67,20,000 years), but instead of the former the text gives 8,000 † 52,000, i.e, 60,000 divine years, unless we read shata-sahasrani for varsha-sahasraņi. Yutam, however, seems as regards both grammar and meaning. 

38 years more in addition. A day of Brahmá is declared to be this period multiplied fourteen times. † At its termination the dissolution is declared by the wise to be the necessary result, O brahman.

† This does not agree with verse 31, if we take the words “this period” refer to verses 35, 36 and 37. In verse 31 one of Brahmá's days is said to 12,000,000 divine years or 4,320,000,000 human years, but 14 times the period mentioned in the latter verses contain 11,928,000 divine years, or 4,294,080,000 human years. We must bring in here the excess fraction reffered to in verse 34, which by calcalation is found to be 3/7; thus 71 3/7 times of yuga of 12,000 divine years = 857,142 6/7, divine years of the manvantara 14 times this laat period exactly = 12,000,000 divine years of Brahma's Similarly with regard to haman years.

39 The Bhúr-loka, the Bhuvar-loka and the Svar-loka are perishable and pass †† to dissolution; and the Mahar-loka

                  †† For áyáti read áyanti? 

40 stands, yet the dwellers therein by reason of the heat go to the Jana-loka. And Brahmá sleeps indeed during the night in the three worlds which have been dissolved into one ocean.

41 That night is of exactly the same duration. At its termination creation begins again. And so passes one of Brahmás

42 years, and a hundred years is the whole. For a hundred of his years is denominated a Para; and a Parárdha or half a

43 Para is well-known to be composed of fifty years. So then a Parárdha of his life has elapsed, O brahman; at the close of which occurred the Maha-kalpa, which is famed as the Padma.

44 Of the second Parárdha which is now passing, O brahman, the first kalpa (or cycle) ordained in this one called the Váráha.