the Janaloka-for a night of equal duration with his day; at the close of which he creates anew. Of such days and nights is a year of Brahmá composed; and a hundred such years constitute his whole life.1 One Parárdha, or half his existence, has expired, terminating with the Mahá Kalpa3 called Pádma. The Kalpa 2 'The Brahma Vaivarta says 108 years; but this is unusual. Brahma's life is but a Nimesha of Krishna, according to that work; a Nimesha of Śiva, according to the Saiva Purána. 2 In the last book, the Parárdha occurs as a very different measure of time; but it is employed here in its ordinary acceptation.* 3 In theory, the Kalpas are infinite; as the Bhavishya: कोटिकोटिसहस्रणि कल्पानां मुनिसत्तमाः । 'Excellent sages, thousands of millions of Kalpas have passed; and as many are to come.' In the Linga Puráňa, and others of the Śaiva division, above thirty Kalpas are named, and some account given of several; but they are, evidently, sectarial embellishments. The only Kalpas usually specified are those which follow in the text: the one which was the last, or the Pádma, and the present or Váráha. The first is also commonly called the Bráhma; but the Bhagavata distinguishes the Brahma, considering it to be the first of Brahma's life, whilst the Pádma was the last of the first Parárdha. The term Mahá, or great, Kalpa, applied to the Pádma, is attached to it only in a general sense; or, according to the commentator, because it comprises, as a minor Kalpa, that in which Brahmá was born from a lotos. Properly, a great Kalpa is not a day, but a life, of Brahmá; as in the Brahma Vaivarta: ब्रह्मणश्चायुषा कल्पः कालविद्भिर्निरूपितः । 'Chronologers compute a Kalpa by the life of Brahmá. Minor Kalpas, as Samvarta and the rest, are numerous.' Minor Kalpas * See Goldstücker's Sanskrit Dictionary, sub voce a. វ (or day of Brahmá) termed Váráha is the first of the second period of Brahma's existence. * here denote every period of destruction, or those in which the Samvarta wind, or other destructive agents, operate. Several other computations of time are found in different Puránas; but it will be sufficient to notice one which occurs in the Hari Vamśa; as it is peculiar, and because it is not quite correctly given in M. Langlois's translation. It is the calculation of the Mánava time, or time of a Manu: 10 divine years 10 Mánava days = a day and night of a Manu. 10 Mánava fortnights his month. 12 Mánava months = his season. = his year. 6 Mánava seasons = Accordingly, the commentator says 72000 divine years make up his year. The French translation has: "Dix années des dieux font un jour de Manou; dix jours des dieux font un Pakcha de Manou", &c. The error lies in the expression "jours des dieux", and is evidently a mere inadvertence; for, if ten years make a day, ten days can scarcely make a fortnight. French translation of the Harivamsa, Vol. I., pp. 43 et seq. CHAPTER IV. Nárayana's appearance, in the beginning of the Kalpa, as the Varáha or boar: Prithiví (Earth) addresses him: he raises the world from beneath the waters: hymned by Sanandana and the Yogins. The earth floats on the ocean: divided into seven zones. The lower spheres of the universe restored. Creation renewed. MAITREYA.-Tell me, mighty sage, how, in the commencement of the (present) Kalpa, Nárayana, who is named Brahmá,* created all existent things. 1 PARÁSARA.-In what manner the divine Brahmá, who is one with Nárayaña, created progeny, and is thence named the lord of progeny (Prajapati), the lord god, you shall hear.† At the close of the past (or Pádma) Kalpa, the divine Brahmá, endowed with the quality of goodness, awoke from his night of sleep, and beheld the universe void. He, the supreme Nárayana, the incomprehensible, the sovereign of all creatures, invested with the form of This creation is of the secondary order, or Pratisarga (fari); water, and even the earth, being in existence, and, consequently, having been preceded by the creation of Mahat and the elements. It is also a different Pratisarga from that described by Manu, in which Swayambhu first creates the waters, then the egg: one of the simplest forms, and, perhaps, therefore, one of the earliest, in which the tradition occurs. * Read "that Brahma, who is named Nárayana": El Tख्यो ऽसौ । Read, on the faith of my MSS.: "Hear from me in what manner the divine Brahma, one with Nárayana, and the god who is lord of the Progenitors - prajapati-pati—, created progeny": Brahma, the god without beginning, the creator of all things; of whom, with respect to his name Nárayana, the god who has the form of Brahmá, the imperishable origin of the world, this verse is repeated: "The waters are called Nárá, because they were the offspring of Nara (the supreme spirit); and, as, in them, his first (Ayana) progress (in the character of Brahmá) took place, he is thence named Nárayana (he whose place of moving was the waters)." He, the lord, † conclu This is the well-known verse of Manu, I., 10,‡ rendered, by Sir Wm. Jones: "The waters are called náráh, because they were the production of Nara, or the spirit of god; and, since they were his first ayana, or place of motion, he thence is named Nárayana, or moving on the waters." Now, although there can be little doubt that this tradition is, in substance, the same as that of Genesis, the language of the translation is, perhaps, more scriptural than is quite warranted. The waters, it is said in the text of Manu, were the progeny of Nara, which Kullúka Bhatta explains Paramátman, 'the supreme soul'; that is, they were the first productions of god in creation. Ayana, instead of 'place * प्रजाः ससर्ज भगवान्ब्रह्मा नारायणात्मकः । But compare the Márkandeya-puráňa, XLVII., 1. + Supply "when the world had become one ocean": + आपो नारा इति प्रोक्ता आपो वै नरसूनवः । In the Vishnu-purána, the last line begins: et ae at: /I The Harivansa-I., 36-takes the stanza from the Mánava - dharmaśástra, without alteration. Compare the Mahábhárata, Vana-parvan, 12952 and 15819; and the Sánti-parvan, 13168. Also see Goldstücker's Sanskrit Dictionary, sub voce अयन. It is beyond doubt that the verses quoted above palter with the etymology of the word नारायण. On the taddhita affix आयन, which cannot mean "son", see the gana on Páńini, IV, 1, 99. ding that within the waters lay the earth, and being desirous to raise it up, created another form for that of motion', is explained by Áśraya, 'place of abiding.' Nárayana means, therefore, he whose place of abiding was the deep. The verse occurs in several of the Puráñas, in general in nearly the same words, and almost always as a quotation, as in our text: इमं चोदाहरन्त्यत्र श्लोकम् | The Linga, Váyu, and Márkandeya Puránas, citing the same, have a somewhat different reading, or: आपो नारा वै तनव इत्यपां नाम शुश्रुम । अप्सु शेते यतस्तस्मात्तेन नारायणः स्मृतः ॥ * ‘Ápah (is the same as) Náráh, or bodies (Tanavah'); such, we have heard (from the Vedas), is the meaning of Apah. He who sleeps in them is, thence, called Nárayana.' The ordinary sense of Tanu is either 'minute' or ' body'; nor does it occur amongst * The Linga-puráña - Prior Section, LXX, 119 and 120—has : आपूर्य ताभिरयनं कृतवानात्मनो यतः॥ The Màrkandeya - purana - XLVII., 5 – has, in one MS. that has been consulted: आपो नारा इति प्रोक्ता आपो वै नरसूनवः । तासु शेते स यस्माच्च तेन नारायणः स्मृतः ॥ A second MS. has the first line the same, but, for the second: अयनं तस्य ताः प्रोक्तास्तेन नारायणः स्मृतः । And a third MS., while agreeing as to the second line, begins: आपो नारा वै तनव इत्यपां नाम शुश्रुम । Three MSS. of the Vayu-purána have the first verse like this last, and, as the second: अप्सु शेते च यत्तस्मात्तेन नारायणः स्मृतः । In another place the Vayu has, according to all my MSS.: आपो नराख्यास्तनव इत्यपां नाम शुश्रुम । आपूर्य ताभिस्तत्रास्ते तेन नारायणः स्मृतः ॥ "Water is the body of Nara: thus we have heard the name of water explained. Since Brahmá rests on the water, therefore he is termed Náráyana.” " Here, and so in the Váyu-purana, — see the last note – तस्मात्तेन, if not a copyist's mistake, denotes cause in two kinds, i. e., "hence in an absolute sense, |