That world

In this world, when it was destitute of brightness and light, and

enveloped all around in total darkness, there came into being, as the

primal cause of creation, a mighty egg, the one inexhaustible seed of all

created beings. It is called Mahadivya, and was formed at the begin-

ning of the Yuga, in which we are told, was the true light Brahma,

the eternal one, the wonderful and inconceivable being present alikin all places ; the invisible and subtile cause, whose nature partaketh

of entity and non-entity. From this egg came out the lord Pitamaha

Brahma, the one only Prajapati ; with Suraguru and Sthanu. Then

appeared the twenty-one Prajapatis, viz., Manu, Vasishtha and Para-

meshthi ; ten Prachetas, Daksha, and the seven sons of Daksha. Then

appeared the man of inconceivable nature whom all the Rishis know

and so the Viswe-devas, the Adityas, the Vasus, and the twin Aswins ; the Yakshas, the Sadhyas, the Pisachas, the Guhyakas, and the Pitris.

After these were produced the wise and most holy Brahmarshis, and the

numerous Eajarshis distinguished by every noble quality. So the water,

the heavens, the earth, the air, the sky, the points of the heavens,

the years, the seasons, the months, the fortnights, called Pakshas, with

day and night in due succession. And thus were produced all things

which are known to mankind.

And what is seen in the universe, whether animate or inanimate,

of created things, will at the end of the world, and after the expiration

of the Yuga, be again confounded. And, at the commencement of

other Yugas, all things will be renovated, and, like the various fruits

of the earth, succeed each other in the due order of their seasons. Thus continueth perpetually to revolve in the world, without begin*

ning and without end, this wheel which causeth the destruction of all

things.

The generation of Devas, in brief, was thirty-three thousand,

thirty-three hundred and thirty- three. The sons of Div were

Brihadbhanu, Chakshus, Atma Vibhavasu, Savita, Richika, Arka,

Bhanu, Asavaha, and Ravi. Of these Vivaswans of old, Mahya was

the youngest whose son was Deva-vrata. The latter had for his son,

Su-vrata who, we learn, had three sons, Dasa-jyoti, Sata-jyoti, and

Sahasra-jyoti, each of them producing numerous offspring.The illus-

trious Dasa-jyoti had ten thousand, Sata-jyoti ten times that number,

and Sahasra-jyoti ten times the number of Sata-jyoti's offspring. From

these are descended the family of the Kurus, of the Yadus, and of

Bharata ; the family of Yayati and of Ikshwaku ; also of all the Rajarshis.

Numerous also were the generations produced, and very abundant were

the creatures and their places of abode. The mystery which is threefold

the Vedas, Yoga, and Vijnana Dharma, Artha, and Kama also

various books upon the subject of Dharma, Artha, and Kama ; also

rules for the conduct of mankind ; also histories and discourses with

various srutis ; all of which having been seen by the Rishi Vyasa are here in due order mentioned as a specimen of the book.

The Rishi Vyasa published this mass of knowledge in both a

detailed and an abridged form, It is the wish of the learned in the world.

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