42 - Cosmogony: The Origin of the Universe (A Dialogue between Bhrugu and Bharadvaja) 

The NP gives three theories of the evolution of the Universe: (1) ‘The Popular Puranic Trinity Theory' wherein god Brahma is regarded as the creator of the Universe (Supra 3.3-4) (2) 'The Shakta-Sankhya theory' in which the Para Shakti (Supreme Potency) of Mahavishnu is credited with the creation. But the process of evolution is that of Sankhyas. (3) The Third theory which may be called ‘the Bhrugu Theory of creation’ is discussed in this chapter. The main feature is the special type of evolution proposed herein which is briefly as follows:

Manasa (  Vishnu) - Mahal-Akasha (the ether)– water-fire-wind-earth.

The NP has not only borrowed this theory from the Mbh. Shanti chs. 182-185 but has incorporated Verbatim the verses in these chapters. This shows the compilatory nature of the NP.

Narada submitted: 

1. O Brahmana, kindly narrate to me whence this universe comprised of the mobiles and immobiles was created and to whom it goes at the time of dissolution. O Sanandana! 

2. By whom was this world created along with the oceans, the sky, the mountains, the clouds, the earth, the fire and the wind? 

3. How were the Bhutas (Elements or living beings) created? How were the different castes divided? What is the arrangement for their purity? How do they get impurities? What are their rules regarding Dharma and Adharma? 

4. Of what nature is the soul of the living individuals? Where do those who die go? May your honour recount everything from this world to the other. 

Sanandana replied:²

2. This corresponds to Bhishma Uvácha in the Mbh. (ibid) v. 5. The rest of the text is a copy of the Mbh.

5. O Narada, listen. I shall tell you this ancient mythological anecdote, the scripture narrated by the sage Bhrugu to Bharadvaja who enquired of him about this. 

6. On seeing the brilliant great sage Bhrugu, of enormous prowess, seated on the top of mount Kailasa, Sage Bharadvaja enquired of him. 

Bharadvaja said: 

7. O bestower of honour, how does the individual soul continuously transmigrate into the different forms of life (existence)? How is its liberation from the cycle of worldly existence effected? 

8. (How is it) O revered sir, that he who is Lord Narayana himself and god Brahma, the self-born creator, always conduct themselves as if) in the master-servant relationship? 

9. How is it that the controller of universe in whom all the mobile and immobile beings enter at the time of dissolution (of the universe), is (as a matter of fact) devoid of all attributes and untinged (by anything)? 

10-12a. How and by whom can he who cannot be specifically particularised and reasoned about, be realized? How do the Vedas respectfully eulogise this great Atman, who cannot be pursued by Kala (time) and Shakti and whose conduct is beyond comprehension? How does the individual soul transcend his Jivatva- (the state of being the individual soul) and merge unto the Brahman? O store-house of mercy, I wish to hear this. Kindly narrate it to me (in details).” 

12b-13a. When the venerable one was thus asked about his problem by Bharadvaja, the great sage resembling Brahman (or god Brahman) thereupon explained everything to him. 

Bhrugu replied: 

13b-15. The primeval Lord Vishnu who was well known to the great sages by the designation Manasa³ is the god without the beginning and end, unageing and immortal. He is well known as the unmanifest, permanent, everlasting and unchanging. It is from him that the living beings are created. They are born of him and they die in him. That lord at first created the principle called Mahat (the great principle). 

3. Manasa-NK (Nilakantha) the com. on the Mbh. explains by quoting a Shruti text which states:

“Out of Asat was evolved Manas which created Prajapati, the progenitor of all beings; alternately, whatever is, exists in mind”. Hence Manasa is the name given to the cause of the origin of the Universe. But the adjectives used in vv 136-15 show that Manasa is identical with the Brahman or Mahavishnu, NK shows how each of the adjectives is supported in the Upanishads.

16-17. He is the lord that supports the elements. (He created what is well known as Akasha (ether). From Akasha originated the water and from the water⁴, fire and wind were evolved. As a result of the contact of fire and wind, the earth was evolved. Thereafter, a brilliant lotus was created by the self-born deity.

4. The evolution mentioned here is different from that of the Sankhyas. NK is hard put to it to explain this deviation. He states that the usual evolution—the--sky-wind-fire-water--earth are implied here:

He states:

akashád abhavad vari ityadipatha-kramo na vivakshitah kintu akashád váyuh,

vayoragnih, agnerapah, adbhyah pruthivi iti shrauta eva jneyah.

NK further explains that the names of the elements (wind, etc.) indicate their subtle forms (tanmatras) before these elements were grossly divided. (Tatra vayvadi-sabdaih sparsha-tanmátram rūpa-tanmatram gandha-tanmåtram cha sūkshmam apanchikruta-bhutajátam uchyate. 

18. From that lotus originated Brahma, the creator who is the embodiment of the Vedas. He is well known as Ahamkara⁵ (the Cosmic Ego), the creator of other elements and the soul of them all.⁶ 

5. The Shrutis record that as soon as Brahma was born he uttered the words “I am He” (So'ham). Hence, he is called Aham or Ahamkara.

6. Sarva-bhūtatmabhutakrut: God Brahma is the soul embodying all bhutas (sarva-bhutatman) as well as the creator of those bhutas (bhůta-krut). As NK puts it: Sarvabhutani sthüla-viyadadini, tadätma taccharirah sa chasau bhūtakruch chaturvidha-bhūtagrama-srashta cheti samasah.

19-22. That highly brilliant one was Brahma. The five elements were the five Dhatus (constituents or ingredients of the body). The mountains were his groups of bones (skeletal structure). the earth was the suet and the flesh. The oceans constituted his blood and the firmament his belly. The air (god) was his respiration. The Agni (fire) was his brilliance and the rivers were his blood vessels. Agni and Soma, the sun and the moon were well known as his eyes. The sky is the crown of his head; the earth constitutes his feet and the quarters his arms.⁷ There is no doubt about this that he is incomprehensible, and his nature is inconceivable even by the Siddhas. He is the Lord Vishnu well known as Ananta (Infinite). 

7. The concept of the deity as the embodiment of the universe which is detailed here is an echo of the Mundaka Up. II.1.4 where the deity is called Sarva-bhütantarátma and still the limbs of his body are said to have been constituted by the sun, the moon, the quarters, etc.

23. He is stationed in all living beings as their soul. He cannot be realized by those who are not self-possessed. He is the creator of Ahamkara which is the cause of origin of all elements. Thence out of the elements was evolved the universe. And it is this that I have been asked by you. 

Bharadvaja said: 

24. What are the magnitudes of the sky, the quarters, the surface of the earth, and the wind? Clear this doubt precisely. 

Bhrugu said: 

25. Infinite is this beautiful sky inhabited by Siddhas and gods. It supports (in its expanse) all the things scattered about, but its limits could not be ascertained. 

26-27. Neither the moon nor the sun sees its end although they go up and down. Even the gods who are self-refulgent like the brilliance of the sun or the fire and whose prowess is well known, cannot perceive the end of the firmament, as it is both inaccessible and infinite, say so, O bestower of respects. 

28. This firmament which is over-crowded higher and higher up with highly blazing self-luminous bodies is incomprehensible even to gods. 

29. At the extremity of the earth are the oceans. Darkness is remembered as existing at the (other) extremity of the oceans. They say that there is water at the end of that darkness and at the end of the water⁸ there is only fire. 

8. This repetition of water indicates the Lord who is the embodiment of water and he is unending-NK.

30. At the extremity (bottom) of Rasatala (the netherworld) there is water, and at the (lowest) extremity of water, there are lordly serpents. At its end, there is ether again and at the end of the ether, there is water again. 

31. Ending with this limit of water is the magnitude of the lord which is more incomprehensible than that of fire, wind and water even to Devas. 

32. The colours or nature of the fire, wind, and the surface of the earth are like those of the firmament. But they are distinguished, when the reality is viewed⁹ or realized. 

9. Tattva-darshanat-NK takes (bhidyante) (a) tattva-darshanat meaning the bhūtas are distinguished through lack of true knowledge”. He who has realized Reality (Tattva) can realize the non-duality-the identity of the soul with the Universe.

33. The sages read about it in the various scriptures as the magnitude of the three worlds and of the ocean, as has been laid down therein. 

34. But who can tell the magnitude of what is invisible and what cannot be approached, and when the movement of Siddhas and Devas is restricted. 

35-36. Therefore, the designation Ananta (connoting the      un-accountability) of the immeasurable infinity (viz. Vishnu) has become famous. When the divine form of the noble-souled Manasa (god Vishnu) who is so according to his designation (Ananta), decreases or increases again, who else is able to know it? If there be any other, he must be of His nature. 

37. Thereafter from the Pushkara (the lotus) was created the embodied omniscient lord Brahma Who is Dharma incarnate, the first and the foremost Prajapati (Lord of Creation). 

Bharadvaja said: 

38. My doubt is that if god Brahma is born of a lotus, the lotus becomes the elder (of the two). But your holiness stated that god Brahma was the first-born (in the whole of creation). 

Bhrugu said: 

39-40a. In order to offer a seat unto the physical form of Manasa (Vishnu) that attained the state of Brahma the earth is called Padma (Lotus). The pericarp of that lotus is the Meru which is as lofty as the sky. 

40b. This god Brahma, occupying a seat in its middle, creates peoples and the universe. 

Bharadvaja said: 

41. O excellent Brahmana, kindly explain how lord Brahma seated in the middle of the Meru, creates different kinds of subjects outside the mount Meru. 

Bhrugu said: 

42. Manasa mentally¹⁰ created the different subjects. In order to maintain and protect the living beings, water was created at the outset. 

10. By the flat of his will of Sankalpad svåsya pitarah samuttishthanti, quoting such shruti passages, NK states that His Will is enough for creation, no other material is necessary.

43. Water which is vital to all living beings was created at first. It is the very life of all beings and subjects grow and multiply thereby. 

44. If they are abandoned by it, they perish. The whole universe is surrounded by it. The earth, the mountains, the clouds and all other embodied beings-everything should be known as Varuna (presided over by Varuna, the deity of waters) The waters

Bharadvaja said: 

45. How was water produced? How were Agni (fire) and Marut (wind) created? How was the earth created? My great doubt is in this respect. 

Bhrugu said: 

46. Brahmana, in a former Kalpa of Brahma,¹¹ in the assembly of Brahmanical sages, some noble-souled (sages) had a doubt about the origin of the world. 

11. At the beginning of the Kalpa in Brahma's region-NK.

47. Vying with one another, those Brahmanas adopted silence and set meditating. They were motionless and they forsook all food. Thus, they remained for a hundred divine years. 

         48. A speech originating from the Brahman (or words sacred as those of the Vedas) reached the ears of all. A divine speech came out of the atmosphere.

49. Formerly, the infinite firmament became still and unruffled like a huge mountain. As the sun, the moon and the wind were lost, it appeared as if it was sleeping.¹²

12. NK quotes Nihara-dhumarka, etc., (Shve. Upa 2-11) for comparison.

50. From that originated water, like a thicker darkness from darkness. From the overflowing froth and foam of the water, the wind rose up.

51-52. Just as an abode¹³ (or rather an empty vessel) without any outlet appears silent but when filled with water the wind makes it full of sound, so also, when the extremity of the firmament is continuously restrained by water, the roaring wind pierces through the surface of the sea and rises up.¹⁴

13. bhavaha in the NP is probably a mistake for bhajana in the Mbh. (ibid) vii. It is reasonable and within the experience of all that an empty vessel (bhajana) when filled with water makes sound, while ''an abode without an outlet” is strange; so, with bhajana as the emendation, the translation is “Just as an empty vessel without any aperture appears void of sound, but when with water, air comes in and creates a sound.”

14. Tatha salila-samruddhe-ghoşhavan,

This (v. 52) also means: “Similarly when the infinite sky (void space) became full of water, and the wind penetrating through the ocean arose with a roar.”

53. The wind originating from the over-flowing froth of the ocean moves amongst those. After reaching the place of the sky it does not calm down.

54. In the struggle between wind and water, fire of a mighty fire of great brilliance blazed up dispelling all darkness from the sky

55. The fire in collaboration with the wind raises water to the sky, where it assumes the form of clouds due to the contact with fire and wind.

56. As it goes up the sky, another part of this (i.e., water) that stays behind due to sliminess solidifies into the earth.

57. This earth should be known as the source of origin of tastes, smells, sliminess as well as of living beings. It is from the earth that everything is delivered out.¹⁵

15. NK concludes that just as the creation of the Universe is mental (not real) in the chase of god Manasa, similarly we should also realize it to be unreal like a dream (asmadadinam api iyam srushtih svapnavad, etc.).

Bharadvaja said:

58. (Defective) The five¹⁶ subtle, Dhatus properties of the five elements) which the lord created (are the Gunas). These worlds are surrounded by what are termed as Mahabhutas (great elements).

16. rakshya “to be protected”: is not a satisfactory reading in this context. Mbh. Shanti 184-1 reads “Brahma” which supplies the subject to asrujat in the text).

59. When the highly intelligent deity created thousands of bhutas (living beings), how does bhūtatva (the state of being an element) is begotten in them specifically afterwards (in their post-creation stage).¹⁷

17. The plain question is; why Mahabhutas (great elements) are also called Bhutas (which is normally applied to creatures of different categories.

60. (Defective)¹⁸ Innumerable/immeasurable are the great elements* (?). (From them) living beings are created. Hence the term “great element” (mahābhūta) is suitably applicable to them.

18. V. 60 in the NP appears defective due to the words amitani mahashtani in 60a. The original Mbh. (ibid) Verse 3a which is quoted in the NP reads:

amitanám mahashabdo yanti bhütani sambhavam

 The epithet maha is given to all things which belong to the category of immeasurables' or innumerables.

*Mahāshtāni is prob. a misprint vide Note 18, p. 511.

61. Our body is the aggregate of five elements since our Cheshta (activity) is Vayu (the wind), the cavity is Akasha (ether), the heat is Agni (fire) the liquid portion is Salila (water) and the mass is Pruthivi.

62. Hence, the mobile and immobile living beings do consist of these five elements. The ears, nose, taste, touch and vision are termed Indriyas (sense-organs).

Bharadvaja said:

      63. If (you say) that the mobile and immobile beings consist of five elements (I object to it) since in the body of the immobile beings, the five Dhatus (Primary elements) are not seen.

64. The five Dhatus are not perceived in the body of the trees, which are devoid of heat and activity and which are actually solid in form.

65. They do not hear, do not see, they are not cognisant of smell and taste nor do they perceive touch. How can they consist of the five Dhatus (elementary ingredients?)

66. There is no Bhautika feature the state of being evolved out of the elements) in the trees due to their not being a liquid, not being a fire, not being the earth and not being the wind, not being akasha (the sky) as the sky is comprehensible and immeasurable.

Bhrugu replied:

67. There is no doubt at all that though the trees are of solid nature there is ether in them. (Hence, the perpetual outcome of fruits and flowers from them comes to pass).

68. Due to heat the leaf withers; the bark, the fruits and flowers too wither and decompose. Hence, there is the sensation of) touch in them.

69. The fruits and flowers become shattered due to the loud report of thunder and the (roaring) sounds of wind and fire. The sound is heard through the ears. Hence, trees do hear.

70. The creeper twines round the tree or spreads all round. The path cannot remain invisible. Hence trees can see.

71. Through merits and demerits and through scents and different kinds of incense, trees that are not affected by sickness, blossom.¹⁹ Hence, trees do smell.

19. V.17 may alternately be translated thus:

In consequence of smell (pleasant or unpleasant-good or bad) and due to the perfumes of different kinds of incenses, trees recover their strength and blossom forth.

     72. Since there is perception of happiness and misery, since the tree is lopped off grows again, I see a soul in the trees. They are not insentient.

73. (Defective) Hence, it takes up water; through fire and wind it consumes the food; as the food undergoes metabolism the growth of the tree takes place.

74. The five Dhatus (elements) are present in the body of all mobile beings. They act in diverse ways on the body whereby the body functions.

75. The skin, the flesh, the bones, the marrow and the fifth (Dhatu)-the sinews-these constitute the earth element in the body.

76. The Tejas element (energy) is the body, (the gastric) fire anger and the eyes as well as the body temperature. These five constitute the fire element in the body (the embodied being) which are created by the (element called) fire.

77. The five ether elements (i.e., the spaces) in the body of living beings arc-the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the heart and the belly.

78. Water elements always present in the bodies of the living beings are five, viz.-the phlegm, the bile, the sweat, the fat and the blood.

79-80. Five types of organic elemental winds envelop the embodied being. It is through the Prana that the living being delights (others) ²⁰* (?). The Vyana is diffused throughout the body. The Apāna blows downwards. Samana is stationed in the cardiac region. Through the Udana the living being breathes and through all the live types it speaks.

20. The Mbh. reads Praņiyate for Prinayate of the NP. NK interprets: It is the vital breath called Prana which enables a living being to move about; the vital breath named Vyana gives him strength for exertions.

*Probably a misprint for praniyate-moves about or respires. vide Mbh. Shanti 184.24.

81. The embodied being perceives the quality of smell from the earthly element and the taste from the water element in him. I shall recount in detail the quality of smell.

82-83. The smell is of nine varieties ²¹ -the agreeable, the disagreeable, the sweet one, the pungent one, that which spreads wide, that which is harmonious and compact. That which is bland and mild, that which is dreamy and sullied, that which is manifestly calm. Such is the smell that pertains to the earth element. The embodied being sees the splendour through the eyes and perceives touch through the wind element.

21. NK has given instances with a slightly different interpretation, Thus nirhari: overpowering the smell of other things as the gum of Asafoetida used in articles of food.

Samhata- A composite mixture of many scents.

Snigdha - As one given out by boiled butter (when transformed into ghee).

Rūksha- Dry as of mustard oil.

84. The sound, the touch, the colour and the taste also are remembered as qualities (of water). I shall recount to you the knowledge of taste (i.e., the details of quality of taste). Listen even as I recount it.

85. 86a The taste has been mentioned to be manifold by the sages of renowned souls. Sweet, saline, bitter, astringent, sour and pungent. Thus, the six types of taste are remembered to be pertaining to the water element.

86b-89a. The fiery element is said to be possessing three qualities, viz., the sound, the touch and the colour. The fiery element perceives the colours and colours are said to be manifold (All types of features are included in the word colour - Rupa). The Rupas of the fiery element are sixteen (?), viz. short, long, stout, symmetrical, atomic, circular, white, black, red, blue, yellow, pink, hard, smooth, delicate, slimy, soft and rough

89b-91. The ether has only one quality, viz. the sound. I shall tell you the diverse extension (varieties of the sound -viz. Şhadja, Rushabha, Gandhara, Madhyama, Dhaivata, Panchama and Nishada. The quality of the ether (viz. sound) is thus said to be of seven types.

92-93a. Thanks to its power, sound is present everywhere.²² Yet it manifests itself in various kinds of drums such as drums, kettle-drums and Mrudanga and the conch, clouds and the chariot. Thus, the sound originating from the ether is of various kinds.²³

22. Aishvaryena- Due to its quality of being all-pervasive like the Supreme Being -NK.

23. The NP v. 92 combines from the Mbh. vv. 40b, 41a, and omitting v. 41C, accepts v. 42a for 93a.

93b-95. The special quality pertaining to Vayu is the quality of touch. But the quality of touch is remembered (stated traditionally) to be of various kinds. The special quality pertaining to the wind is of eleven varieties, viz. hot, cool, pleasing and painful; soft, clearly manifest touch, the rough touch, the smooth touch, the slimy touch, the light touch and the heavy touch. Vayu has two Gunas, viz. the sound and the touch.

96. (Defective)²⁴ They say that the sound has been originated from the ether along with qualities of Vayu unobstructed. Whether perceived or not, its (Vayu's) movement is uneven²⁵ (zigzag or irregular).

24. The text of v. 96 is defective as it combines Mbh (ibid) vv. 42b and 43a and NP V.97 combines Mbh. vv. 43b and 44a. Reconstructed according to the Mbh. the verses should be translated as follows: 96b-97a. The sound (which is the property of Akasha or Space) is not heard, when different kinds of touch are inchaotive. The elements or constituents which mix up with other constituents in the body increase in strength.

te Shabdadyutpädaka dhatavo deharambhas tvagadi-golaka dhatubhiḥ pranendriyaih

apyayante adita arabhya samvardhyante / NK.

25. The reading vishama gatih accepted by the NP is from the Bengali Mss of the Mbh, NK specifically states vishama gatir iti gauda-pathas tu pramadikaḥ. This reading shows that the author of the NP. copies a Ms. hailing from Bengal or he belonged to that part of the country and accepted the reading from the MS of the Mbh. used in that part.

96. The Dhatus are always developed further by these Dhatus. The fire, the water and the wind-all these are always alert in the embodied beings.

98-99. They are the root cause of the body. They stay enveloping the Prānas^.26 When the powerful (Prana) functions depending on the element called the earth, the Agni (fire element) rests on the top of the head and protects the body. Staying either in the cerebrum or in the fire, the Prana functions.

26. Here ends ch. 184 of the Shanti of the Mbh. the next ch. (185) of the Mbh. is borrowed in the NP. vv. 2b onwards.

100-101a. That creature is the Atman of all living beings. It is the eternal Purusha. It is the mind, the intellect, the ego, the living beings and the object of the senses. Thus, everywhere it is being protected²⁷ by the Pranas.

27. The Mbh. Shanti 185.5a (which is the same as NP v. 101a) reads parichályate and NK interprets: The Prana is the creature, the Supreme soul, the eternal Purusha, the mind...object of the sense. Thus, the living being is made to move about by Präna in every respect.”

101b-102. From behind it is enabled to attain its respective movement, by the vital air called Samana. The Apāna functions after resorting to the fire-element at the root of the bladder and the rectum where it makes the urine and the faecal matter flow out.

103. Experts in anatomical (spiritual) knowledge call that (particular organic wind) the Udana which though single functions in three (spheres) viz. in exertions, in activities and in restraint.

104. The (vital) wind that abides in all the joints in the human bodies is called Vyana.

105 The fire that is diffused in the arms²⁸ is urged by Samana. It functions by creating the Rasas (lymphatic juices or secretions) and the many Doshas (disorders in the three bodily humours) and functions.

28. In båhushvagnih etc. of the NP, bahu is meaningless as the vital air called Samana does not limit its activity to arms only, but covers the whole body, and secondly, the plural No. bahusu implies more than two arms which means Samana Vayu does not function in two-armed beings. The Mbh. reading dhatushu for bahuşhu is better. The mistake is repeated in v. 105 b where NP reads rasan bahunsh cha where the proper reading should be dhatunsh cha as the breath samana operates on all dhatus (constituents of the body) and not merely on (more than two) hands.

106. In the middle of Prana and Apāna the (gastric) fire attains its stable position and urged by Prana and Apāna, it digests well.

107. (Defective) The digestive-system (?) extends from the mouth to the Pāyu (Anus) which is otherwise called Guda (rectum). Hence, all the lymphatic vessels of the embodied beings produce Retas²⁹ (semen virile).

29. Retas in NP v.127 is obviously a blunder. For retas is irrelevant in the channel that extends from the mouth to the anus. That reading rendered the verse defective. The Mbh. (ibid) v. 107 which is borrowed by the NP reads Srotas and means “From this main channel many subsidiary channels or Nadis spread out (like branches) all over the body.”

NK takes Srotas as “the passage of the vital wind” and its branches as Nadis.

108. When the organic wind called a combined derangement of the humours³⁰ (causing fever) takes place, the heat should be known as (gastric) fire. It digests the food of the embodied beings.

30. NK interprets: As a result of the rapid confluence of the (five) vital airs flowing through these arteries, the heat called gastric fire is generated and it causes digestion.

109. The Prana that carries the force and heat of the fire goes down to the end of the anus and is obstructed at the extremity of the rectum. It comes up once again and casts the fire upwards.

110. The abdomen is beneath the umbilical region and the Amāśhaya (the receptacle of the raw or uncooked matter the upper part of the belly) is remembered to be above it. All the Pranas are stationed at the root of (pakváśhaya) the umbilicus of the body.

111. The Nādis (tubular vessels) proceed from the heart and go everywhere--to the sides, above and below. Urged by the ten Pranas they carry the nutritive juicy elements³¹ (to all parts of the body).

31. This shows that the NP. anticipated Harvey in physiology.

112. The path of the Yogas is also this. Thereby the people attain that highest region. The self-possessed men of equanimity overcoming strain, keep the Atman at the head (in the Sahasrāra Lotus)

113. When the Prana and Apāna of the embodied beings function thus, Agni (fiery element) is generated and kindled as through in (or under) a cooking pot³² (?).

32. The gift of NK's long explanation: In all the physical and mental functions of the body, Pranas, etc. are the instrumental cause. When Yoga characterised by breath-control (pranayama) is practised, the eternal Brahman reveals itself resplendent. In the final analysis what remains is the Brahman.