49 - The Course of Creation.

Márkandeya describes the creation of the primeval human race, and their simple condition and happy life--When they ultimately died out, modern men fell from the sky, and lived in kalpa trees - Passionate affection sprung up among them and --covetousness next, which destroyed the trees, and drove them to form communities—Their measures of length are explained ---and fortresses, towns, villages and houses described. ---The Tretá Age began--with the existing rivers and vegetation--and the people lived on the vegetation-- They then took private possession of property according to might, and the vegetation perished-Then they supplicated Brahma, and he created all existing cereals and plants—The seventeen cereals and the fourteen sacrificial plants are specified-Brahmá ordained their means of livelihood, which could be gained only through labour, and their laws, castes, &c. -The spheres assigned to various classes after death are mentioned. 

Kraushtuki spoke.

1 Thou hast told me, Sir, of the group of beings in which the stream of life †† passes downwards; tell me fully,

                  †† For Sarvaryyante read sharvaryante? 

2 O bráhman, how Brahmá created the human creation, and how he created the classes of men, and how their qualities, O wise Sir; and tell me what business has been assigned to the bráhmanas and those other classes severally. 

Márkandeya spoke.

3 While Brahma was first creating and was meditating on truth, he created a thousand pairs of human beings from his

4 mouth, O Muni; when born, they come into being, characterized chiefly by goodness, and self-glorious. He created 

5 another thousand pairs from his breast; they were all characterized chiefly by passion and were fiery and impatient. And he created again another thousand miserable

6 pairs from his thighs; * they were known as characterized chiefly by passion and ignorance, and as enviously disposed.

                  * For marutaḥ read úrutah 

7 And he created another thousand pairs from his feet; they were all characterized chiefly by ignorance and were unfortunate and little of understanding. Then those living beings, produced in pairs, were rejoicing

8 together; urged by their mutual distress they hastened to sexual intercourse. Thenceforward pairing originated in

9 this kalpa. Women did not have their courses month by month; hence they did not then bring forth offspring, although

10 they engaged in sexual intercourse. They bring forth just pairs of children once at the close of life. Thenceforward

11 pairing originated in this kalpa. By meditation and thought those human beings give birth to offspring once. Sound and the other objects of sense were pure severally in their five marks.

12 This was this creation of the human race which the Prajá-pati formerly produced. Sprung of his lineage they worshipped

13 this world, and they pay homage to rivers, lakes, and seas and the mountains also. During that age those human

14 beings lived indeed feeling little cold or heat. They received delight according to their natural dispositions from the objects of sense, O wise Sir, no opposition, nor enmity, nor envy

15 existed among them. They paid homage to the mountains and the seas; they lived wholly without habitations; their actions were unswayed by love; their minds were always

16 joyful. Neither Pišhách'as, nor Nágas, nor Rákshasas, nor envious men, nor cattle, nor birds, nor crocodiles, nor fish, nor

17 creeping insects, nor egg-born animals hindered them, (for those animals are the offspring of iniquity,) nor roots, nor

18 fruits, nor flowers, nor the seasons, nor the years. Time was always happy; there was neither heat nor cold in excess; as

19 time passed by, they attained wonderful perfection. Moreover, they enjoyed satisfaction in the forenoon and at noon; and again, satisfaction came without exertion to those who

20 wished for it, and exertion also sprang up in the mind of those who wished for it. The water was exquisite. Perfection

21 was merry with many a delight for them; * and another was produced that conferred every wish. And with bodies

22 uncared for, those human beings had lasting youth. Without resolve they produce offspring in pairs; alike is their birth

23 and form, and together also they die. Devoid of desire and hatred they lived to each other. All were equal in form and

24 lengths of life, without inferiority or superiority. They live their measure of life, four thousand human years; nor have

25 they misfortunes through affliction. Everywhere Moreover, the earth was entirely blessed with good fortune. 

* The text siddhir námnávayo na sa seems incorrect; instead of it, another MS. reads siddhir nánárasollashá, which I have adopted.

26 As the people died in the course of time, so their prosperity gradually perished everywhere; and when it had altogether

27 perished, men fell down from the sky. Those kalpa trees were commonly produced which are called houses; and they

28 brought forth every kind of enjoyment to those people. At the beginning of the Tretá age the people got their subsistence from those trees. Afterwards in the course of time passionate

29 affections † sprung up suddenly among them. By reason of the occurrence of passionate affection menstruation occurred month by month, and conception frequently took place.

                  † Rága. 

30 Then those trees were called houses †† by them. But branches certainly fall from other trees, O bráhman; and they yield

†† Does this mean the trees were called houses (griha) from the offspring garbha) begotten there? 

31 clothing and ornaments out of their fruits. In the separate cavities of the same fruit of those trees was produced very strong honey, which excelled in smell, colour and taste, and

32 which no bee had made; on that they subsisted at the beginning of the Tretá age. Afterwards in course of time those people grew covetous

33 besides, their minds being filled with selfishness they fenced the trees* round; and those trees perished by reason of that

                  * For vrikshas read vrikshams?

34 wrong conducts on their part. Strife sprung up in consequence; their faces felt cold and heat and hunger. Then for the sake of combination and resistance they made towns

35 at first; and they resort to fortresses in inaccessible deserts and wastes, in mountains and caves; also, they industriously

 36 constructed with their own fingers an artificial fort on trees on mountains and in water, and they first made measures intended for measurement.

37 A minute atom, a para súkshma, the mote in a sunbeam, † the dust of the earth, and the point of a hair, and a young louse, †† and a louse, § and the body of a barleycorn; || men

                  † For trasha-renur read trasa-renur. 

†† For nishkom read liksha.

§ For yúkam read yuka.

|| Yavodara

38 say each of those things is eight times the size of the preceding thing. ¶ Eight barleycorns equal an angula or finger

¶ For ekádasha-gunam teshám another MS. reads kramád ashta-gunanyahur, which is much better. 

39 breadths; ** six fingerbreadths are a pada, †† and twice that is known as a span; †† and two spans make a cubit measured with the fingers closed in at the root of tho thumb; §§ four cubits make a bow, a pole, || || and equal two nádikás; two

                  ** For yava-madhyam another MS. roads yaványashtau.

†† A foot's breadth?

†† For vitasti-dvigunam read vitastir dvigunam? 

§§ For -veshtanam read -veshtanaḥ? This relation indicates a long arm, or small hands and feet. An average cubit so measured would be equal to about 15 inches. 

|| || Danda.

40 thousand bows make a gavyúti; ¶¶ and four times that are declared by the wise to be a yojana; *** this is the utmost measure for purposes of calculation. 

¶¶ A stretch of pasture-ground. Taking the cubit at 15 inches, this length would be 10,000 feet, or about 1  2/10 mile. 

*** Taking the cubit at 15 inches, the yojana equals 40,000 feet, per about 7 1/2 miles. 

41 Now of the four kinds of fortresses three occur naturally; the fourth kind of fortress is artificial. Now those men

42 constructed it laboriously; ††† and they also constructed, O bráhman, * the pura, † and the khetaka, the droni-mukha †† likewise, § and shákhá-nagarakas and the three kinds of karvatakas

††† The text tachch'a kuryat satastu te appears corrupt. Å better reading tac'hc'hakrur yatnatas tu te from a MS. in the Sanskrit College Library. 

* For dvija” read dvija? The vocative seems preferable as Márkandeya a relating what happened in a previous age, and the work described would not fall to a brahman's daty. If dvijah be retained, the word kuryát must be understood. 

† This is explained in verse 44. 

†† These two words are explained in verse 45.

§ For tadva road tadvad.

43 vatakas, || and the gramas together with the arrangement of the ghoshas, ¶ and the separate habitations therein; and they

|| These two words are not in the dictionary; they are explained in Verses 45 and 46. For karvatakam trayi read karvataka-trayim? 

¶ Sanghosha is not in the dictionary. For gramá-sanghosha-vinyasam read grámam sa-ghosha-vinyásam? Gráma is explained in verse 47, and ghosha in verse 50.

44 built lofty ramparts surrounded on all sides with fosses. They made the pura, or town, extend for a quarter of a yojana in every direction, and slope down to water on the east; they made it auspicious and peopled it with colonies from noble families. ** And with a half of it they laid out the kheta, †† and with a quarter of it the karvata; ††††and then the inferior portion which is made with the remaining quarter is called the

                  ** S'uddha-vamsha-vahirgamam.

†† Prof. Sir M. Monier-Williams explains kheta, “a village, the residence of pensants and farmers; a small town, half a pura”, but here it apparently means a particular portion of the pura; does it mean the “inhabited or residential area”? 

†††† This word is said to mean “a village, market-town, the capital of a district,” but here it denotes a particular portion of the pura; does it mean he bazár or the “area occupied with the market and shops”?

46 droni-mukha. §§ A town destinate of ramparts and fosses || || is called & varma-vat; and a shakhá-nagaraka* is another kind of

§§ This word said to mean “the capital of a district, the chief of 400 villages,” but here it evidently refers to the lowest part of the pura; does it ages the “Area inhabited by the labouring population or the lowest classes”?

|| || For prakáram parikha-hinam read prákára-parikha-hinam? Or is the merse intended to say that a town surrounded with a rampart but without is a varma-vat? This would agree better with the meaning of varma ¶ Prof. Sir M. Monier. Williams explains it as “an unfortified (?) town.” 

* This word is said to mean,”'a ‘branch-town,' a saburb,” but here is seems to mean a ‘town with branches,' a “capital town” or “metropolis.” 

47 town which possesses ministers and feudatory princes. Moreover, a dwelling place † which abounds with shúdras and water †† where the cultivators are independently prosperous, § and which is situated on land that can be used for fields, is called

                  † Vasati; see verse 48. 

†† For shúdra-jala-práyaḥ read shúdra-jala-práyá?

§ For - krushibaláh read -kruishibalá? 

48 a gráma. || The dwelling-place, which men make, different from cities and other abodes, for the sake of their business,

|| The village. The word thus denotes a local area and includes both the dwellings and the fields. It seems to designate specially the large and prosperous villages. 

49 is to be known as a vasati by modern men. ¶ The gráma which springs up on the land of another gráma, and thrives, which has no fields of its own, which is for the most part vicious, and which is the resort of a king's favourites, is

¶ The word is explained in the dictionary as “a dwelling-place, dwelling house, abode, residence,” but here it is explained to be a “mart,” apparently either permanent or temporary. It corresponds to the modern (Permain) word ganj, or the vernacular word hdt (Sanskrit hatta), in Bengal. The word vasati appears as basti in the modern vernaculars and means in Bengal “the populated part of a village,” and “the part of a town ocoupied by the common bamboo-built honses.” The verse seems to indicate that the word vasati was either newly coined or had recently acquired (or the authat wished it to acquire) & special meaning. The complete change from this meaning to that of the modern basti, which rather excludes any notion trade, is note-worthy, 

50 called an ákrimí. ** And a collection of cattle and herdsmen, who have brought their utensils there on carts, where there is no barter, is called a ghosha; †† its situation on the land may be wherever they please.

** Or akrimi. These words are not in the dictionary. If we might read a-krami instead, the word would be rather appropriate. 

†† This word is said to mean “a station of herdsmen.” It appears to denote a temporary dwelling only, resorted to for puroses of pasturage. 

51 Those people thus made towns and other abodes for themselves to dwell in; they made houses for the several couples 

52 to dwell in. As trees were their first kind of houses, so, with a remembrance of all that, those people built their houses.

53 As some branches of a tree go in one direction, and others go in another direction, and some rise upwards and some bend downwards, even so they fashioned the branches in their

54 houses. Those branches, which were the branches of the kalpa trees at first, O brahman, became rooms in the houses in consequence among those people.

55 Those people ruined the trees by their strife, and afterwards pondered* on their means of livelihood. When the kalpa

                  * For ac'intayat read ac'intayan?

 56 trees had utterly perished along with the honey, those people were distressed by their afflictions, and suffered from thirst and hunger. Then became manifest their perfection at the

57 beginning of the Tretá age. For their other business was spontaneously accomplished; † they had rain according to their desire. Tho waters of their rain are the rivers †† which

                  † For várttá-sva-sadhita read várttá sva-sádhita?

†† Nimna-gata neut=nimna-gá? This meaning is not in the dictionary. 

58 flows here. By the obstruction of the rain § the rivers, which ||existed on the earth scanty of water before that, became ¶ deep flowing channels.

                  § For vruishtyávaruddhair read vruishtyavarodhar?

|| Nimnagáh ye. If this is correct, we must take nimna-ga masc. as “a fever,” a meaning not given in the dictionary; if we read nimna-gáha for as sual, we must read yah for ye. 

¶ For abhavat read abhavan? 

59 And then by their union with the earth plants came into existence, of fourteen kinds, both those which grow on uncultivated soil, and those which grow unsown, both cultivated

60 and wild. And trees and shrubs bearing flowers and fruit in their seasons were produced. This manifestation of

61 vegetation appeared first in the Tretá age. On that vegetation the people subsist in the Tretá age, O Muni. And then

62 lapsing into novel passion and covetousness those people next took possession of rivers and fields, mountains, and trees, shrubs and plants in their own right oven according to might. 

63 Through that their sin those plants perished before their very eyes, and the earth then devoured, those plants at once. Ó

64 most wise bráhman. * Moreover, when that vegetation had perished, those people fell into still further confusion. Suffering from hunger, they resorted to Brahmá, the most

                  * For dvijaḥ read dvija?

65 high, as their preserver. And he, the mighty lord, knowing full well then that the earth had swallowed it up, † milked

† Grasta. The context seems to require this word to be taken in an active sense. 

66 her treating mount Meru as her calf. †† This earth-cow was then milked by him, the cereals came into existence on the

†† The calf is tied near the cow, while she is being milked, as otherwise, it is said, she will not let her milk flow. 

67 faces of the earth, the seeds, the cultivated and wild plants besides, which are annuals, § known as comprising seventeen classes according to tradition. The various kinds of both

                  § Phala-pákánta.

 68 rice and barley, wheat, and grain, || sesamum, priyangu, ¶ udára, ** koradúsha, †† and ch'ínaka, †††† másha, §§ green gram,||||

|| Panichum miliaceum, the modern chină, Roxb. p. 104. It is a cultivated cereal, grows on an elevated, light, rich soil, immediately after the rains. 

¶ See note ** p. 165.

** The Dictionary says this is a kind of grain with long stalks, bat I cannot trace it out in Roxburgh. 

†† Paspalum scrobiculatum, the modern kodo, Roxb. p. 93, He Says “The seed is an article of diet with the Hindoos, particularly with those who inhabit the mountains and most barren parts of the country, for it is in such countries only where it is cultivated, it being an unprofitable crop, and not sown where others more boneficial will thrive. I have eaten of the boiled grain and think it as palatable as rice.” 

†††† This is said to be Panichum miliaceum which is already mentioned; the word means fennel also, but that is inappropriate. I do not find any other grain of this name. 

§§. See note? p. 84.

|| || Mudga; See note ¶ p. 84.

69 and masúra, ¶¶ the finest pulse, *** and kulatthaka, ††† ádhaka pulse, * and chick-pea† and hemp †† are known as the seven teen classes. These are the olden kinds of cultivated plants. 

¶¶ See note ††† p. 165.

*** Nishpáva; see note || p. 86.

††† See note || p. 84. 

* The dictionary does not give adhaka, masc. or fem., as the name of any ant; but ádhaki, fem., is said to mean a kind of pulse, Cajanus indicus, preng. I do not find it in Roxb., but Oliver calls the Pigeon Poa Chajanus. 

                  † For c'hanakás read c'hanakás. See note ** p. 84.

†† S'hana. For ganáḥ read shanáh, as in several MSS.

70 And there are fourteen kinds of plants for use in sacrifices, both cultivated and wild, viz., the various kinds of both rice

71 and barley, wheat, anu grain, sesamum, and seventh § among them priyangu, and eighth kulatthaka, and shyámáka || grain,

§ The reckoning seems wrong; priyangu is the sixth and kulatthaka the seventh. 

|| See note * p. 165. 

72 wild rice, wild sesąnam, ¶ and gavedhuka** grass, kuruvinda †† grass, markataka, †††† and veņu-gradha; §§ and these indeed are traditionally known as the fourteen cultivated and wild plants

¶ Yattila is not in the dictionary. For yattilá read jartilah.

** Coin barbata, Roxb. p. 649; it is a course grase, and cattle do not eat it, is also said to mean Hedysarum lagopodioides, which is mentioneed by Rox. gnrgh (p. 573), but of which I find no description in his work. 

†† Cyperus rotundus, Roxb. p. 66; a common grass, the roots of which dried and powdered are used as a perfume. 

††††This has been mentioned in Canto XXXII, verse 11, and is described in the dictionary as “a kind of wild panic; a species of grain,” I find that charpopogon pruriens is assigned by Roxburgh to the Sanskrit word markati p. 553). That is a common legume, but he says no use seems to be made of except that the hairs of the legumes are used as a vermifuge and are beversed to be poisonous. 

§§ This is not in the dictionary, and I do not know what it is.

73 for use in sacrifices. When these plants aro abandoned, || || they do not spring forth again. Thereupon the adorable self-existent Brahmá devised

|| || Prasruishtá. Does this mean that these plants grow only in a cultivated late? 

74 means of livelihood for the advancement of those people, and the perfection of the hands which results from work. Thence forward plants were produced, which must ripen after ploughing.

75 But when their livelihood was thoroughly ordained, the lord himself next established bounds for them according to

76 justice and according to their qualities; also, the laws the castes and of the four periods of a bráhman's life, and of the worlds * with all their castes which duly maintain righteousness and wealth, O most righteous Muni.

                  * Loka. 

77 Prájápatya† is traditionally declared to be the sphere assigned after death to bráhmans who perform the ceremonies. Aindra †† is the sphere of kshatriyas who flee not in battle.

                  † The heaven of the pitruis? 

                  †† The 18th lunar mansion?

78 Máruta§ is the sphere of vaishyas who observe their own proper laws. Gándharva || is the sphere of the various classes

                  § The constellation Sváti. 

|| Gándharva is the name of one of the nine portions of Bhárata-varsha but this seems inappropriate. 

79 of shúdras who perform menial service. The sphere of those eighty-eight thousand ruishis who live in perpetual chastity has been traditionally declared to be that of the inhabitants

80 of Jupiter. The sphere of the Seven Ruishis ¶ has been traditionally declared to be that of hermits. Prájápatya** is the sphere of householders; the abode of Brahmá is for those men who have abandoned all worldly coucerns; the world of immortality is for yogis-such is the ordinance of the various spheres assigned after death. 

                  ¶ The constellation Ursa Major.

** See verse 77.