Maitreya had been listening a long while, and every answer had opened another door. He told Parashara what he had already received: the position of the earth and the oceans and the arrangement of the sun and the grahas, the creation of the gods and the rishis, the origin of the four varnas and of the creatures born to go crosswise through the world, and the lives of Dhruva and Prahlada, in full. “Now from your mouth I wish to hear all the manvantaras,” he said, “and all the lords of the manvantaras, with their Indras and their gods.” Parashara agreed. “I tell you in order all the manvantaras that have been and all that will be.”
The Manus, past and to come
The first Manu was Svayambhuva, and after him in order came Svarochisha, Uttama, Tamasa, Raivata and Chakshusha. Those six have been. Now Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Surya, holds the office, and his is the seventh manvantara, the one turning now. Every manvantara comes furnished with its own gods, its own Indra, its own saptarshis and its own kings, the sons of the reigning Manu, and Parashara had already given Maitreya the company of Svayambhuva’s age at the start of the kalpa. He gave the rest. In the Svarochisha manvantara the gods were the Paravatas and the Tushitas, the mighty Vipashchit was Indra, Urja, Stambha, Prana, Vata, Prishabha, Niraya and Parivan were the saptarshis, and Chaitra, Kimpurusha and their brothers were the Manu’s sons. Under Uttama the Indra was Sushanti, the gods stood in five groups of twelve, and the seven sons of Vasishtha were the saptarshis; Aja, Parashu and Dipta were among the Manu’s sons. Under Tamasa the gods were four classes of twenty-seven; King Shibi, who had a hundred ashvamedhas behind him, was Indra; Jyotirdhama, Prithu, Kavya, Chaitra, Agni, Vanaka and Pivara were the seers, and Nara, Khyati, Keturupa and Janujangha the kings. In the fifth, Raivata’s, the Indra was Vibhu, the gods stood in groups of fourteen, the saptarshis were Hiranyaroma, Vedashri, Urdhvabahu, Vedabahu, Sudhama, Parjanya and Mahamuni, and Balabandhu, Sambhavya and Satyaka were the Manu’s sons. Those four Manus, Svarochisha, Uttama, Tamasa and Raivata, were of one line: the rajarshi Priyavrata had worshiped Bhagavan Vishnu by tapas, and four lords of four manvantaras, born of his own blood, were what the tapas won him. In the sixth manvantara Chakshusha was Manu and Manojava was Indra; the gods stood in five great groups of eight; Sumedha, Viraja, Havishman, Uttama, Madhu, Atinama and Sahishnu were the saptarshis, and Uru, Puru and Shatadyumna ruled. In this seventh manvantara the brilliant and wise Shraddhadeva, the son of Surya, is Manu; the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras and the rest are the gods; Purandara is Indra; Vasishtha, Kashyapa, Atri, Jamadagni, Gautama, Vishvamitra and Bharadvaja are the saptarshis; and Vaivasvata Manu’s nine righteous and famous sons, Ikshvaku, Nriga, Dhrishta, Sharyati, Narishyanta, Nabhaga, Arishta, Karusha and Prishadhra, are the kings.
Seven manvantaras are still to come, and the eighth begins in Surya’s house. Vishvakarma’s daughter Samjna was Surya’s wife, and she bore him three children, Manu, Yama and Yami. In time she could no longer bear her husband’s tejas. She set Chhaya, her shadow, in her place to serve him and went away to the forest to do tapas, and Surya, taking Chhaya for Samjna, had three more children by her: Shanaishchara, a second Manu, and Tapati. One day Chhaya, partial to her own son, lost her temper and cursed Yama, and from that Surya and Yama both knew that this woman was someone else. Chhaya told the whole secret herself. Surya looked by samadhi and saw Samjna in the forest doing tapas in the form of a mare; he went to her as a horse, and by him she had the two Ashvinikumaras and, last, Revanta. Then Bhagavan Surya brought Samjna back to her place, and Vishvakarma set about calming his tejas. He put Surya on his lathe and pared him down, and even so he could take away only an eighth of that imperishable tejas. The blazing Vaishnava tejas he shaved off fell to the earth, and from it Vishvakarma made Bhagavan Vishnu’s chakra, Shankara’s trishula, Kubera’s vimana and Kartikeya’s shakti, and strengthened the weapons of the other gods with what remained. Chhaya’s second son, the Manu, is called Savarni, because he is of the same varna as his elder brother Manu, and his will be the eighth manvantara. The gods then will be the Sutapas, the Amitabhas and the Mukhyas, twenty in each group; the saptarshis will be Diptiman, Galava, Rama, Kripa, Drona’s son Ashvatthama, Parashara’s own son Vyasa, and Rishyashringa the seventh; Bali, the son of Virochana, who lives now in Patala, will by Shri Vishnu’s grace be Indra; and Viraja, Urvarivan, Nirmoka and their brothers, Savarni’s sons, will be the kings. The ninth Manu will be Dakshasavarni, with Adbhuta for Indra; the tenth Brahmasavarni, with Shanti; the eleventh Dharmasavarni, with Vrisha; the twelfth Savarni the son of Rudra, with Ritudhama; the thirteenth Ruchi, with Divaspati; the fourteenth Bhauma, with Shuchi. Each will have his own gods in their groups, his own seven seers and his own sons on the thrones of the earth. At the end of every chaturyuga the Vedas are lost, and then the saptarshis come down from svarga to the earth and spread them again; at the beginning of every Satyayuga a Manu appears, the author of smriti-shastra, to set the bounds of dharma for men; until the manvantara ends, the gods of that time take their shares of the yajnas, and the Manu’s sons and their descendants rule the earth. The Manu, the saptarshis, the gods, the Indra and the Manu’s sons are the officers of each manvantara. When fourteen of them have passed, a kalpa of a thousand yugas is complete, and the night that follows is as long. Then Shri Vishnu, in Brahma’s form, lies on the bed of Shesha on the water of the pralaya; the all-pervading Janardana, first maker of everything, has swallowed the whole triloka and rests in his own maya. At the start of the next kalpa the imperishable Lord wakes, takes up rajoguna, and creates the world again. Manu and the kings his sons, Indra, the gods and the saptarshis: all of them are the sattvik amsha of the Lord by which the world is held up.
Vishnu’s form in every manvantara
In every manvantara it is the matchless sattva-dominant shakti of Bhagavan Vishnu, in the form of the gods, that presides over the world’s continuance, and in each one he is born in a single form. In the Svayambhuva manvantara the manasa deva Yajnapurusha was born from Akuti by an amsha of that Vishnu-shakti. In the Svarochisha he was Ajita, born of Tushita with the gods called Tushitas; in the Uttama he appeared as Satya, from Satya, with the gods called Satyas; in the Tamasa he was born as Hari from Harya, with the gods called Haris; in the Raivata he came from Sambhuti with the gods of that age and was famed as Manasa; in the Chakshusha he was born from Vikuntha with the Vaikuntha gods and was called Vaikuntha. In this Vaivasvata manvantara Bhagavan Vishnu appeared as Vamana, from Aditi by Kashyapa, and that great Vamana conquered all the worlds with three steps and gave this triloka, with no thorn left in it, to Indra. Seven manvantaras, seven forms of the Lord, and by them all creatures grew. The whole universe is pervaded by that Paramatma’s shakti, and so he is called Vishnu, for the root vish means to enter; all the gods, the Manus, the saptarshis, the Manus’ sons and Indra, the lord of the gods, are his vibhutis. And the sustaining Bhagavan sets things in order in the four yugas as well. In the Satyayuga, devoted to the good of all beings, the self of all takes the form of Kapila and others like him and gives the supreme knowledge. In the Tretayuga the all-powerful Lord is a chakravarti king who restrains the wicked and protects the triloka. In the Dvapara he takes the form of Vedavyasa, divides the one Veda into four and spreads it in hundreds of branches, and at the end of the Kali he takes the form of Kalki and puts the wicked back on the right path. So the infinite-souled Lord creates, sustains and destroys this whole world without ceasing; there is nothing in the world apart from him, and whatever beings in this world or the next have been, are, or will be, all of them arise from the great-souled Bhagavan Vishnu.
The Vyasa of every age
Maitreya had learned from all this that the whole world is Vishnu-formed, rests in Vishnu, arose from Vishnu, and that there is nothing other than Vishnu. He asked next how the Lord, as Vedavyasa, divided the Vedas in yuga after yuga, which Vedavyasa there had been in which yuga, and the whole branching of the Veda. Parashara told him that no one could count the thousands of branches of the Veda-tree in full, and gave it to him in brief. In every Dvaparayuga Bhagavan Vishnu descends as Vyasa and divides the one Veda into many for the world’s good; he sees that men’s strength, vigor and tejas have grown small, and he does it for them. The form by which he makes the one Veda many bears the name Vedavyasa, and it is a form of Madhusudana. In the Dvaparas of this Vaivasvata manvantara the Vyasa-maharshis have so far divided the Vedas twenty-eight times. In the first Dvapara Brahma himself divided them; in the second the Vedavyasa was Prajapati; then Shukracharya, Brihaspati, Surya, Mrityu, Indra, Vasishtha, Sarasvata and Tridhama, to the tenth; then Trishikha, Bharadvaja, Antariksha, Varni, Trayyaruna, Dhananjaya, Ritunjaya and Jaya, to the eighteenth; then a second Bharadvaja, Gautama, Haryatma and Vajashrava; then Trinabindu of the Somashushma line, the twenty-third. After him came Riksha of the Bhrigu line, who is called Valmiki; then Shakti, Parashara’s father; then Parashara himself; then Jatukarna; and the twenty-eighth was Krishnadvaipayana. Those twenty-eight divided the one Veda into four, and in the Dvapara to come, after Krishnadvaipayana, Drona’s son Ashvatthama will be Vedavyasa. Then Parashara bowed to the syllable the Vedas come out of. “This imperishable single syllable Om is Brahman. It is called Brahman because it is brihat, great, and pervades everything. Bhurloka, Bhuvarloka and Svarloka rest in this pranava-formed Brahman, and the pranava is itself the Rik, the Yajus, the Sama and the Atharva; homage to that Brahman in the form of Omkara.” He bowed to it as the cause of the world’s creation and dissolution and the supreme secret beyond the mahat-tattva; as unfathomable, limitless and imperishable, the home of the tamoguna that deludes the world and, through light and activity, the means of enjoyment and of moksha; as the supreme goal of those who know the Sankhya and the destination of those rich in shama and dama; as self-existent, called pradhana and the inner controller, undivided, brilliant, imperishable and many-formed. “To that Brahman in the form of Paramatma, the image of Bhagavan Vasudeva, homage again and again.” This Omkara-formed Brahman is one and yet threefold, a, u and m; present without difference in every distinction, it appears different only to a mind that thinks in differences. That self of all is made of Rik, of Sama and of Yajus, and this Omkara, the essence of the three, is the self of every embodied being. He is made of the Veda; he becomes different as the Rigveda and the rest, and he divides his own Veda-form into many branches. The unattached Bhagavan is the author of every branch, and he is the knowledge in them.
The dividing of the Veda
At the start of creation the Veda that manifested from Ishvara had four padas and a lakh of mantras, and from it arose the ten kinds of yajna, agnihotra and the rest, which yield every desire. In the twenty-eighth Dvapara Parashara’s son Krishnadvaipayana divided that single four-pada Veda into four, as the Vedavyasas before him had divided it, Parashara among them, and in the same branch-divisions it is recited in every chaturyuga. Krishnadvaipayana is to be known as Narayana himself; who in the world besides Narayana could compose the Mahabharata? When, prompted by Brahma, he undertook the dividing, he took as disciples four rishis who could study the Veda to its far end. He taught Paila the Rigveda, Vaishampayana the Yajurveda and Jaimini the Samaveda, and his disciple Sumantu knew the Atharvaveda; and for itihasa and Purana he took the wise Suta Romaharshana. The Yajurveda had been one; he divided it into four, and from that the chaturhotra arose, the yajna with four priests: the adhvaryu’s work from the Yajus, the hota’s from the Rik, the udgata’s from the Sama and the brahma’s from the Atharva. He drew out the Rik and the Yajus shrutis and made the Rigveda and the Yajurveda, and from the Sama shrutis the Samaveda, and with the Atharvaveda he arranged all the royal rites and the office of the brahma. So the one Veda-tree became four, and out of the four grew a forest of Veda-trees. Paila split the Rigveda-tree in two for Indrapramati and Bashkala, and through their disciples it spread: Bashkala’s four, Bodhya, Agnimadhaka, Yajnavalkya and Parashara; Indrapramati’s son Mandukeya, and in his line Vedamitra Shakalya with his five anushakhas for Mudgala, Gomukha, Vatsya, Shaliya and Sharira; Shakapurna with three samhitas and a Nirukta; Bashkala with three more. The makers of those samhitas are called the Bahvrichas. The Yajurveda has a harder story. Vyasa’s disciple Vaishampayana made twenty-seven branches of the Yajurveda-tree and gave them to his disciples in order, and among them was Brahmarata’s son Yajnavalkya, very dharmic and devoted to serving his guru. Now the rishis together had made a rule: whichever maharshi did not join their gathering on Mahameru within seven nights would incur the sin of brahmahatya. Of all the rishis only Vaishampayana broke that time-limit, and then, by carelessness, he killed his sister’s son with a touch of his foot. He called his disciples. “All of you, without any deliberation, perform for me a vow that removes brahmahatya.” Yajnavalkya spoke up. “These Brahmins are very lacking in tejas. What need is there to trouble them? I alone shall perform this vow.” His guru heard it as an insult to Brahmins and as a disciple breaking his command, and his anger came at once. “You who insult Brahmins, give up all that you have learned from me. You call all these best of the twice-born tejas-less; I have no use for a disciple like you who breaks my command.” Yajnavalkya answered, “I said this out of devotion to you. I too have no use for you. Take it; what I learned from you is here.” And he vomited the embodied Yajurveda, full of blood, gave it to him, and went where he willed. The other disciples became tittiri partridges and picked up the Yajus shrutis he had vomited, and so they are all called Taittiriya; and the Brahmins who, at the guru’s prompting, performed the vow that removes brahmahatya became, by the conduct of that vow, the Charaka-adhvaryus, students of the Yajus. Yajnavalkya, wanting the Yajurveda back, restrained his breath, controlled his mind, and praised Surya. He bowed to Savita, the gate of liberation, whose tejas is the threefold tejas of Rik, Yajus and Sama; to Bhaskara who carries the tejas called Sushumna, who is Agni and the moon, the cause of the world; to the Vishnu-form, the supreme imperishable Brahman, from whom come the kala, the kashtha and the nimesha by which time is known; to the sun who feeds the moon with his rays and satisfies the gods and the pitris with the nectar of svadha, who makes the snow and the rain and the heat, who removes the world’s darkness, without whose rising no man can do good karma and no water can purify. “I bow to that eye of the triloka whose golden chariot, hung with banners, is drawn by immortal horses.” Bhagavan Surya appeared before him in the form of a horse and told him to ask what he desired, and Yajnavalkya bowed and said, “Teach me those Yajus shrutis which even my guru does not know.” Surya taught him the Yajus shrutis called Ayatayama, which Vaishampayana did not know, and the Brahmins who studied them became known as Vaji, because Surya had been a horse when he taught them. The fifteen branches of these Vaji shrutis, Kanva and the rest, were all begun by the maharshi Yajnavalkya.
The eighteen Puranas and the fourteen sciences
The Samaveda went from Vyasa’s disciple Jaimini to his son Sumantu and from Sumantu to his son Sukarma, and each of those two studied one branch of it. Then Sukarma made a thousand branch-divisions of his Sama-samhita, and two disciples under a great vow took them, Hiranyanabha of Kosala and Paushpinji. Hiranyanabha’s five hundred disciples are called the Udichya Samagas, the Samagas of the north, and the others who received as many samhitas from him are called the Prachya Samagas, of the east. Paushpinji’s disciples were Lokakshi, Naudhami, Kakshivan and Langali, whose own disciples and grand-disciples divided the samhitas further, and another disciple of Hiranyanabha, the great muni Kriti, taught twenty-four samhitas of the Samaveda to his disciples, and they too spread it in branches. The Atharvaveda the brilliant Sumantu first taught to Kabandha, who divided it in two for Devadarsha and Pathya. Devadarsha’s disciples were Medha, Brahmabali, Shaulkayani and Pippalada; Pathya’s were Jabali, Kumudadi and Shaunaka, and Shaunaka split his samhita between Babhru and Saindhava. From Saindhava Munjikesha learned it and divided his samhita first in two and then into three more, and the five vikalpas he made, the Nakshatrakalpa, the Vedakalpa, the Samhitakalpa, the Angirasakalpa and the Shantikalpa, are the best among the Atharva samhitas. Then Vyasa, who knew the meaning of the Puranas, composed the Purana-samhita, with its akhyanas and upakhyanas, its gathas and its kalpashuddhi, and taught it to his famous disciple, the Suta Romaharshana. Romaharshana had six disciples, Sumati, Agnivarcha, Mitrayu, Shamshapayana, Akritavrana and Savarni, and three of them, Akritavrana of the Kashyapa gotra, Savarni and Shamshapayana, made samhitas of their own, all three resting on the one samhita of Romaharshana. From the essence of those four samhitas Parashara made this Vishnupurana-samhita.
Those who know the Puranas speak of eighteen Puranas in all, and the most ancient of them is the Brahma Purana. First the Brahma, second the Padma, third the Vaishnava, fourth the Shaiva, fifth the Bhagavata, sixth the Naradiya, seventh the Markandeya; eighth the Agneya, ninth the Bhavishyat, tenth the Brahmavaivarta, eleventh the Lainga; twelfth the Varaha, thirteenth the Skanda, fourteenth the Vamana, fifteenth the Kaurma, then the Matsya, the Garuda and the Brahmanda. Those are the eighteen Mahapuranas, and besides them the munis have told of many upapuranas. In all of them are described sarga, pralaya, the lines of the gods and the others, the manvantaras and the lives of the royal houses. The Purana Parashara was telling is the Mahapurana named Vaishnava, told after the Padma, and in it, through sarga and pratisarga, vamsha and manvantara and all the rest, Bhagavan Vishnu alone is described everywhere.
The six Vedangas, the four Vedas, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Purana and Dharmashastra are the fourteen vidyas. Add Ayurveda, Dhanurveda and Gandharvaveda, and Arthashastra as the fourth, and there are eighteen vidyas in all. The rishis are of three kinds, brahmarshi first, then devarshi, then rajarshi. So Parashara had described the branches of the Vedas, the divisions of the branches, their makers and the causes of the divisions. In every manvantara the branch-divisions stay alike, because the shruti that manifested from Prajapati Brahma is eternal, and all these are only its variations. “What you asked me about the Veda I have told you,” he said to Maitreya. “Now what more shall I say?”
Source: Vishnu Purana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)