The Matsya Purana

Introduction There are eighteen major Puranas or mahapuranas, the word 'maha', meaning great. There are also several other minor Puranas or upapuranas, the word 'upa' signifying minor. Amongst the eighteen mahapuranas, the Matsya Purana is number sixteen. The Puranas themselves describes the five characteristics pancha la!shana" that a text must satisfy before being classified as a mahapurana. That is, any such text must dscribe five different subjects. These are the original creation of the universe sarga", the periodical process of destruction and re#creation pratisaryga", the various eras manvantara", the histories of the solar dynasty surya vamsha", and lunar dynasty chandra vamsha" and royal genealogies vamshanucharita". The Matysa Purana describe these five different subjects. Traditionally, the $amayana is believed to have been composed by the sage %almi!i and the Mahabharata by the sage %edavyasa. %edavyasa was the son of &atyavati and the sage Parashara. 'is real name was (rishna )vaipayana. The word '(rishna' means dar! and he came to ac*uire the name because he was dar! in complexion. The word dvipa means island and the sage ac*uired the name of )vaipayana as he was born on an island. The Mahabharata has one la!h shlo!as or couplets. After composing the Mahabharata, %edavyasa composed the eighteen mahapuranas. These texts have four la!h shlo!as between them, although they are not e*ual in length. The Matsya Purana is a medium#length Purana, and consists of fifteen thousand couplets. The longest Purana, the &!anda Purana, has eighty#one

thousand. And the shortest Purana, the Mar!andeya Purana, has only nine thousand. The fourteen thousand shlo!as of the Maysya Purana are divided into two hundred and ninety#one chapters adhyaya". The eighteen Mahapuranas are sometimes divided into three groups, with six Puranas in each group. There are ++ million administrative demigods mentioned in the %edas. ,ut the primary gods are ,rahma, %ishnu and &hiva. ,rahma is regarded as the creator, %ishnu as the maintainer, and &hiva the destroyer. &ince all three are important gods, any sacred text will glorify each of them. ,ut the relative emphasis often varies from text to text. -or example, a text which spends many chapters on the act of creation tends to glorify ,rahma relatively more and is !nown as a rajasi!a Purana. A text which describes the forms avatara" of %ishnu in great detail tends to glorify %ishnu more and is !nown as a sattvi!a Purana. A text mainly concerned with rituals and norms tends to attach more importance to &hiva and is !nown as a tamasi!a Purana. The word 'matsya' means fish. .sually %ishnu is regarded as having had nine incarnations, with a tenth one, (al!i, due to come in the future. The names of these incarnations are as follows. /. Matsya or fish. This is sometimes also referred to as the mina fish" avatara. 0. (urma or turtle. +. %araha or boar. 1. 2risimha or narasimha, the half#man and half#lion. 3. %amana or dwarf. 4. Parashurama. 5. $ama. 6. (rishna. 7. ,uddha. /8.(al!i. The Matsya Purana is so named because it was first recited by %ishnu himself, in his incarnation of a fish. %edavyasa did much more than compose the Mahabharata and the Puranas. &o far as the %edas are concerned. (rishna )vaipayana had four other disciples. ,ut the Puranas were taught only to $omaharshana. This is what $omaharshana has to say. Romaharshana and the Other Sages ( Setting the scene )

There was a forest !nown as naimisharanya. Many years ago, several sages organi9ed a yajna sacrifice" in the forest. After the sacrifice was over, the assembled sages told $omaharshana. :ou have recited to us many Puranas. These subject matter is so pleasing that we would li!e to hear them once more. Please satisfy our thirst for hearing. ; will recount for you the most holy of all the Puranas, replied $omaharshana. This is the great Matsya Purana, told by %ishnu to Manu. <et prepared for ; am about begin. Vishnu and Manu There used to be a !ing named Manu. 'e was the son of the sun#god. ;n fact, in every era, there are fourteen manus. The Manu mentioned here is the seventh in the present era and his name was %aivasvata Manu. 'e was the son of the sun#god %ivasvana." =hen it was time for Manu to retire to the forest, he handed over the !ingdom to his son. The son>s name is ;!shva!u." Manu then went to the foothills of Mount Malaya and started to perform tapasya meditation ? austerity". Thousands and thousands of years passed. After some time ,rahma appeared to him ; am pleased with your prayers, said ,rahma@ Awhat ever you li!e you can have just as!A. ; have only one boon to as! for, replied Manu. &ooner or later there will be a destruction pralaya" and the world will no longer exist. Please grant me the boon that it will be ; who will save the world. <rant me this service. ,rahma readily granted this boon. )ays passed. Bn one particular occasion, Manu was performing ablutions in a pond near his hermitage. 'e immersed his hands in the water so that he might offer some water to his ancestors. =hen he raised his cupped hands, he found that there was a minnow shafari" swimming around in the water. Manu had no desire to !ill the minnow. 'e placed it carefully in his water#pot !amandalu". ,ut the minnow started to grow and within a day, it was sixteen fingers in length. &ave me, !ing. said the fish. This water#pot is too small for me. Manu then placed the fish in a jar. ,ut the fish continued to grow and, within a day, it was three hands in length. &ave me, !ing. said the fish. This jar is too small for me.

Manu put the fish in a well, but the well soon became too small for the fish. Manu transferred the fish to a pond, but the pond was also too small for the fish. Manu now removed the fish to the holy river <anga, but even this was too small for the fish. -inally, Manu transferred the fish to the ocean. There the fish grew so much that it soon occupied the entire ocean. =ho are youC as!ed Manu. ; have never seen or heard of such wonders. Are you a demon that is deluding me with its illusionsC 2o, ; do not thin! that you are a demon. Perhaps you are great %ishnu himself. Please tell me the truth and satisfy my curiosity. %ishnu then revealed that it was indeed he who had adopted the form of a fish. 'e told Manu that the earth would soon be flooded with water. %ishnu had a boat built by the gods. =hen the earth was flooded, Manu was to place all living beings in the boat and thus save them. %ishnu would himself arrive in his form of the fish and Manu was to tie the boat to the fish>s horn. Thus the living beings would be saved. And when the waters of the flood receded, Manu could populate the world and rule over it. %ishnu disappeared, and for a hundred years there was a terrible drought on earth. The drought led to famine and people died of starvation. Meanwhile, the sun bla9ed in fury and burnt up the entire world. =hen everything had burnt to ashes, dar! clouds loomed in the s!y. These are the clouds that appear at the time of destruction and there are seven classes of such clouds, !nown as samvarta, bhimananda, drona, chanda, valaha!a, vidyutapata!a and !ona. -rom the clouds, rain began to pour and soon, water engulfed the entire earth. The land mass was flooded. As instructed by %ishnu, Manu gathered together living beings inside the boat. And when the fish appeared, he tied the boat to the fish>s horn. =hile the boat was being dragged around by the fish, Manu as!ed %ishnu several *uestions. The answers that %ishnu provided form the text of the Matsya Purana. The Creation. ;n the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. The was only dar!ness. =hen the time came for creation to begin, %ishnu removed the dar!ness and expanded into three. These three parts came to be !nown as ,rahma, %ishnu and &hiva. The first object that appeared was water and %ishnu slept on this water. &ince 'nara' means water and 'ayana' means resting#place, %ishnu is accordingly also !nown as 2arayana. ;n this water next appeared a golden hiranya" egg anda". The egg shone

with the radiance of a thousand suns. ;nside the egg, ,rahma grew from the navel of %ishnu. The egg was golden. <arbha means womb, and since %ishnu appeared inside a golden egg, he is also !nown as 'iranyagarbha. -or a thousand years ,rahma stayed inside the egg. 'e then split the shell into two and emerged out. 'eaven svarga" was made from one half of the shell and the earth from the remaining half. All the land masses, the oceans, the rivers and the mountains, had been inside the egg in embryonic form. ,rahma made them manifest. &ince he was the first adi" being to be born, he is !nown as Aditya. The name Aditya is more commonly explained as characterising the offspring of Aditi, from whom all the gods were descended. The Matsya Purana refers to this later." ,rahma>s first act was to meditate. ;t was while he was meditating that the %edas were revealed from with in his heart. 'e then distributed that !nowledge. Ten sons were also born to ,rahma. Dreated from ,rahma>s mental powers, they all became sages. Their names were Marichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, (ratu, Pracheta, %ashishtha, ,hrigu and 2arada. There were others too who were born. )a!sha was born from ,rahma>s right toe. And the god )harma was born from his chest. ,ut for further creation to continue, it was essential that created beings should have proper mothers and fathers. ,rahma accordingly created two beings from his body, one was male and the other was female. The male half was named &vayambhuva Manu and the female half was named &hatarupa. &hatarupa is also referred to as &avitri, <ayatri, &arasvati or ,rahmani. &ince she had been born from ,rahma>s body, she was li!e ,rahma>s daughter. ;n fact, %ashishtha and the other sages who were ,rahma>s sons welcomed her as their sister. ,ut &hatarupa was so beautiful that ,rahma fell in love with her and wished to marry her. &hatarupa circled ,rahma and showed her respects to him. =hen she stood in front of him. ,rahma ga9ed upon her with the face that he had. ,ut when she went and stood behind him, ,rahma could see her no longer. ,rahma, obviously, did not want to turn his head." Another head with another face therefore sprouted behind ,rahma>s first head so that he might be able to see &hatarupa. ;n similar fashion, a head sprouted to ,rahma>s first head so that he might be able to see &hatarpa. ;n similar fashion, a head sprouted to ,rahma>s right an another one to his left. ,rahma married &hatarupa and they lived together as man and wife for a

hundred years. Their son was named &vayambhuva Manu. $emember that this story was being told by %ishnu to %aivasvata Manu. 'earing the account, %aivasvata Manu exclaimed. =hat you have just said is truly ama9ing. To continue with the account of the creation, ,rahma created the four (umaras from his mental powers and their names are &ananda, &ana!a, &anatana and &anata!umara, and they became celebrate brahmacaries. &hiva appeared as well. ,rahma as!ed &hiva to help him in the act of creation. =hy don>t you create some beings as wellC> as!ed ,rahma. &hiva complied and started to create. ,ut all the beings that he created were just li!e him in appearance. That is , they were all immortal. =hat are you doingC as!ed ,rahma. )on>t create immortal beings. Dreate mortal ones instead. That ; refuse to do, retorted &hiva. ;f ; am to create, ; shall create only immortals. Please do not create then, re*uested ,rahma. ; will ta!e care of creation myself. &vayambhuva Manu performed very difficult tapsaya and obtained a wife named Anati. ;n other Puranas, &vayambhuva Manu is stated to have married &hatarupa." &vayambhuva Manu and Ananti had two sons named Priyavrata and .ttanapada. -rom .ttanapada was descended Prachinavarhi. Prachinavarahi married &avarna, the daugther of the ocean, and they had ten sons. These sons were !nown as the Prachetas. The ten Prachetas married a woman named Marisha. That is, all of them had the same wife. )a!sha was the son of the Prachetas and Marisha. Dakshas Descendants )a!sha married Panchanjani. The more usual name, as given in the other Puranas, is Asi!li or Prasuti. Prasuti is said to have been the daughter of &vayhambhuva Manu and &hatarupa. Asi!li was the daughter of %irana and is also referred to as %airini." )a!sha and Panchajani had one thousand sons. These were !nown as the 'arya!shas alternatively, 'aryashvas". )a!sha as!ed his sons to create more living beings.

,ut the sage 2arada came and told the 'arya!shas, :ou can>t possibly create living beings unless you !now where they are going to live. 'ave you explored the universe that your creations are going to populateC =hy don>t you start out on a voyage of discoveryC The 'arya!shas did this and have never been heard of since. They did not return. ;nstead became devoted brahmacaries. )a!sha and Panchajani now had another thousand sons. These were name the &havalas. The more usual name is the &havalshvas." 2arada as!ed the &havalas also to explore the universe and they too disappeared. &ixty daughters were next born to )a!sha and Panchajani. &ometimes the number is given as sixty, sometimes as fifty and sometimes as twenty#four." Ten of these daughters were married to the god )harma, twenty#seven were married to the moon#god Dhandra, and thirteen were married to the sage (ashyapa. The remaining daughters were married to various other sages. The thirteen daughters who were married to (ashyapa were named Aditi, )iti, )anu, Arishta, &urasa, &urabhi, %inata, Tamra, (rodhavasha, ;ra, (adru, %ishva and Muni, The names of (ashyapa>s wives, particularly the minor ones, sometimes vary from Purana to Purana." Aditi>s sons were !nown as the adityas. There were twelve of them and they were named ;ndra, )hata, ,haga, Tvashta, Mitra, %aruna, :ama, %ivasvana, &avita, Pusha, Amshumana and %ishnu. These were the gods. :ama is more commonly regarded as having been the son of the sun#god and his wife &amjna." )iti>s sons were the daityas demons". There were two of them, named 'iranya!shipu and 'iranya!sha. Their sons also came to be !nown as the daityas. 'iranya!sha>s sons were .lu!a. &ha!uni, ,hutasantapana and Mahanabha. More commonly, 'iranya!sha>s son is said to have been Andha!a. ;n some accounts, 'iranya!sha did not have a son and Andha!a was adopted as a son." 'iranya!shipu>s sons were Prahlada, Anuhlada, &amhlada and 'lada. Prahlada>s son was %irochana, %irochana>s son was %ali, and %ali>s son was %anasura. )anu had a hundred sons. These and their descendants were !nown as the danavas demons". Dhief among the hundred sons was %iprachitti. Maya, the archietect of the demons, was descended from this line. Tamra had six daughters. These were the mothers of the birds and of goats, horse, sheep, camels and don!eys.

%inata had two sons, Aruna and <aruda. Aruna>s sons were &ampati and Eatayu. ,oth &urasa and (adru gave birth to sna!es nagas or sarpas". (rodhavasha was the mother of ra!shasas demons"@ &urabhi of cows and buffaloes@ Muni of apsaras dancers of heaven"@ Arishta of gandharvas singers of heaven"@ ;ra of trees and herbs@ and %ishva of ya!ashas demi# gods". The Maruts Although the gods and the demons were cousins, they did not li!e each other and fought amongst themselves all the time. Many daityas were !illed by %ishnu and the other gods. )iti was disturbed to see her children suffer thus. &he resolved that she would meditate so as to obtain a son who would be so powerful that he would !ill ;ndra, the !ing of the gods. There was a tirtha place of pilgrimage" named &yamantapancha!a on the ban!s of the sacred river &arasvati. )iti went there and started to pray to the sage (ashyapa. &he lived on roots and fruits and meditated for a hundred years. These prayers pleased (ashyapa. As! for a boon, he said. Please grant me a son who will !ill ;ndra, replied )iti. ;t shall be as you wish, said (ashyapa. ,ut there are some conditions. :ou will have to live in this hermitage for a hundred years more. Throughout these hundred years you will bear the baby in your womb. ,ut there are certain conditions of cleanliness that you must observed. :ou must not eat in the evening, nor must you sleep under a tree at night. Fxercise is not permitted in any form. )o not sleep with your hair unbraided, or without having had a bath. ;f you can observed these rules for a hundred years, you will have the son you wish for. (ashyapa went away and )iti began to observe the rites that the sage had prescribed. ,ut ;ndra had got to !now what was afoot and he was naturally in no mood to permit the birth of a son who would be the cause of his own destruction. 'e hung around )iti>s hermitage, pretending to serve his aunt. 'e brought her firewood and fruit and served her in other ways. ,ut in reality, he was merely waiting for an opportunity. 'e was waiting for the moment when )iti would fail to observed the norms of cleanliness that had been laid down for her. 2inety#nine years and three hundred and sixty#two days passed. That is, only

three days were left for the period of one hundred years to be over. ;n some other Puranas, it is stated that ninety years had passed uneventfully." )iti was tired on one particular occasion. &ince the period of her ordeal was soon to end, she had also become somewhat careless. &he fell asleep without washing her hair. =hat was worse, she went to sleep without having braided her hair. This was an act of gross uncleanliness. ;ndra sei9ed his chance. &ince )iti had committed an unclean act, her defences had been lowered. ;ndra entered )iti>s womb in a trice. ;ndra has a wonderful weapon named vajra. This is sometimes with a club." =ith the vajra, ;ndra sliced the baby in )iti>s womb into seven parts. These parts started to cry. Ma ruda, said ;ndra. )on>t cry. ,ut the parts continued to cry. ;ndra therefore chopped up each of the parts into seven more sections, so that there were forty#nine parts in all. &ince )iti had failed to observe the prescribed rites, these forty#nine sections were no longer a threat to ;ndra. =hen they were born, they came to be !nown as the maruts from the words ;ndra had used in addressing them. They were elevated to the status of gods and became ;ndra>s friends and constant companions. The Man antaras Fach manvantara is an age and is ruled over by a Manu. Bne of ,rahma>s days is !nown as a !alpa and there are fourteen manvantaras in every !alpa. At the end of every !alpa, the universe is destroyed and has to be created afresh. ;n the present !alpa, six manvantaras have already passed and the seventh manvantara is now current. There will be seven more manvantaras in the future before the universe and its inmates are destroyed. The gods, the seven great sages saptarshis" and the individual who holds the title of ;ndra, change from one manvantara to another. The fourteen eras of the present !alpa are as follows. /. The first Manu was &vayambhuva. The gods then were the yamas. 0. &varochisha was the second Manu. The gods were the tushitas and the names of the seven great sages were )attoli, Dhyavana, &tambha, Prana, (ashyapa, Burva and ,rihaspati.

+. The third Manu was Buttama. The gods were named the bhavanas and (ou!urundi, )albhya, &han!ha, Pravahana, &hiva, &ita and &asmita were the saptarshis.
1. Tamas was the fourth Manu. The seven great sages were (avi,Prithu,

Agni, A!api, (api, Ealpa and )himana and the gods were !nown as the sadhyas. 3. The fifth manvantara was ruled over by a Manu named $aivata. The gods were the abhutarajas and the seven great sages were )evavahu, &uvahu, Parjanya, &omapa, Munti, 'iranyaroma and &aptashva.
4. Dha!shusha was the sixth Manu. The gods were !nown as the le!has

and the seven great sages were ,hrigu, &udhama, %iraja, &ahishnu, 2ada, %ivasvana, and Atinama. 5. The seventh manvantara is the one that is now current and the name of the Manu is %aivasvata. The saptarshis are Atri, %ashishtha, (ashyapa, <outama, ,haradvaja, %ishvamitra and Eamadagni. The gods are the sadhyas, the vishvadevas, the maruts, the vasus, the two ashvinis and the adityas. 6. The eighth Manu will be &avarni and the seven great sages of this era will be Ashvatthama, &haradvana, (oushi!a, <alava, &hatananda, (ashyapa and $ama. 7. The ninth Manu will be $ouchya. /8.,houtya will be the tenth Manu. //.The eleventh Manu will be named Merusavarni. /0.$ita will be the twelfth Manu. /+.$itadhama will be the thirteenth Manu. /1.The fourteenth and final Manu will be named %ishva!asena. Prithu A !ing named Anga was descended from &vayuambhuva Manu. Anga married &unitha, the daughter of Mrityu, and they had a son named %ena. Mrityu was an evil person. -rom his childhood, %ena associated with this maternal grandfather of his and thus came to ac*uire evil ways. =hen %ena became !ing after Anga, he started to oppress the world. 'e stopped all yajnas and the prayers to the gods. 'e insisted that people should pray only to %ena. The sages did their level best to persuade %ena to return to the righteous path, but %ena would not listen. The sages then !illed %ena. The Matsya Purana merely states that %ena died as a result of the curse imposed on him by the sages. The other Puranas say that the sages actually !illed him with some straw over which

incantations had been chanted." %ena had no sons and a !ingdom does not flourish in the absence of a !ing. Therefore, when %ena was dead, the sages started to !nead the dead body so that a son might be born. The first being that emerged as a result of this !neading was a dar! and dwarfish son. All the evil that was in %ena>s body entered the body of this son so that there was no more evil left in the dead body. Bther Puranas state that this son came to be !nown as nishada and this name was also passed on to his descendants. The nishadas became a class of hunters and fishermen." =hen the !neading continued, a handsome son was born from %ena>s right hand. 'e was born fully grown and held bows, arrows and clubs in his hands when he emerged. 'is entire body was clad in shining armour. The word 'prithu' means great. &ince the son was born after a great deal of effort, he was given the name Prithu. The sages made arrangements for Prithu>s coronation. Prithu was a good !ing who ruled well. ,ut Prithu>s subjects still did not have the means to ma!e a living. They as!ed their !ing to do something about this. Prithu decided that since the earth was not providing any foodgrains, he would !ill the earth. The earth adopted the form of a cow and started to flee. =herever the earth went, the !ing followed in hot pursuit. The earth finally reali9ed that she could not escape by running away. &he told Prithu, Please do not !ill me. Then your subjects will not even have a place to live in. :our object is to find a means of living for your subjects. 'ow will that be accomplished if you !ill meC Mil! me instead of !illing me. The foodgrains that the mil!ing will yield will provide the sustenance for your subjects. Prithu accordingly mil!ed the earth. ;t is because of this that the earth is !nown as prithivi. Prithu also levelled out the earth with his bow so that his subjects could live in the plains thus created. The earth prospered during Prithu>s rule. Poverty, disease and sins were un!nown. Fveryone was righteous. The So!ar "ine The sages re*uested $omaharshana. Please tell us the history of the solar line.

$omaharshana explained. Aditi and the sage (ashyapa gave birth to the sun#god, %ivasvana or &urya, as a son. &urya had three wives, &amjna, $ajni and Prabha. $ajna had a son named $evata and Prabha had a son named Prabhata morning". .sually, only &amjna is mentioned in the other Puranas." &urya and &amjna had two sons and a daughter. The eldest son was %aivasvata Manu. And the remaining two offspring were twins named :ama and :amuna. The sun>s radiance was however too much for &amjna to bear. After a while, she could not bear it any longer. &he therefore created a woman out of her own body. The woman loo!ed exactly li!e &amjna and was named Dhhaya shadow". There was no way of telling the two apart. &tay here and pretend to be me, said &amjna. Goo! after my husband and my children. 2o one will !now the truth unless you tell them. As for me, ; am going away. &urya did not reali9e that &amjna had left. 'e too! Dhhaya to be his wife, and &urya and Dhhaya had two sons and two daughters. The sons were &avarni Manu and &hani &aturn" and the daughters were Tapati and %ishti. The second daughter named %ishti does not usually occur in the other Puranas." Dhhaya was clearly fonder of her own children and neglected &amjna>s. This did not bother %aivasvata Manu too much. 'e was the eldest and more collected and balanced. ,ut :ama resented this favouritism of Dhhaya>s. ;n a fit of petulance, he raised his foot to !ic! Dhhaya. Dhhaya cursed :ama. ; curse you that your foot may be devoured by worms, she said. May it be infected with pus and blood. This alarmed :ama and he rushed to his father. My mother has cursed me, he told &urya. ; am only a child. Fven if ; did commit a sin, does a mother ever curse her childrenC ; have serious suspicion that she is not our mother at all. =hen &urya presented Dhhaya with this, she came out with the truth and &urya learnt that &amjna had left. &amjna>s father was %ishva!arma, the architect of the gods. &urya went to his father#in#law to find out if he !new anything of Dhhaya>s whereabouts.

;ndeed, ; do, replied %ishva!arma. =hen &amjna left your house, she came to me in the form of a mare. ,ut ; refused to let her live in my house, since she had left her husband>s house without see!ing his permission. &he is living at the moment in the desert. ,ut &amjna did what she did because she could not bear to stand your energy and radiance. ;f you permit, ; shall shave off some of the excess energy, so that people can loo! at you. %ishva!arma shaved off some of the sun>s energy. =ith the excess energy were constructed many of the weapons of the gods such as %ishnu>s cha!ra a bladed#discus", &hiva>s trident trishula" and ;ndra>s vajra. This made the sun>s appearance much more pleasant and bearable. The only parts of &urya>s body that were not thus modified were the feet. 2o one can bear to loo! at &urya>s feet and it is forbidden to visualise the sun#god>s feet when one is praying to him. A person who does not follow this injunction is a sinner and is made to suffer from leprosy. &urya now went to loo! for &amjna and found her in the form of a mare. 'e too adopted the form of a horse and joined her. As horses, they had two sons. &ince ashva means horse, the sons were !nown as the Ashvinis. They became the physicians of the gods and were also !nown as 2asatya and )asra. After the Ashvinis were born, &urya and &amjna gave up their forms of horses and returned to their usual forms. &avarni Manu went away to perform tapasya meditation" on Mount &umeru. 'e is destined to be one of the future Manus. &hani became a planet and :amuna a river. As for Tapati, she too became a river Tapai", The Mahabharata states that Tapati married (ing &amvarana and gave birth a son named (uru. -rom (uru the line came to be !nown as that of the (auravas." :ama had been cursed by Dhhaya that his feet would rot and be infected with worms. To mitigate the effects of the curse, &urya gave :ama a bird which ate up all the worms. Thereafter, :ama went to a tirtha named <o!arna and started to pray to &hiva. -or thousands of years he prayed and eventually managed to please &hiva. &hiva granted :ama the boon that he would be the god of death. 'e would mete out punishments to sinners in accordance with the sins papa" that they had committed. 'e would also !eep account of the store of merit punya" that righteous people accumulated. %aivasvata Manu ruled as Manu. 'e had ten sons. The eldest was named ;la. ;n many other Puranas, ;la is said to have been a daughter." The other sons were named ;!shva!u, (ushanabha, Arishta, )hrishta, 2arishyanata, (arusha, &haryati, Prishadhra and 2abhaga. The solar line owes its origin to ;!shava!u. ;n this line was born !ing

,hagiratha, who brought the sacred river <anga down from heaven. The story is related in the Mahabharata" -urther down the line was )asharatha and )asharatha>s son was $ama. I!a and the "unar "ine %aisvasvata Manu>s eldest son was ;la. As mentioned earlier, many Puranas state that ;la was a daughter. %aivasvata Manu did not have a son and performed a yajna so that a son might be born. ,ut a daughter was born instead, and Manu brought her up as a son. This daughter was ;la. ;!shva!u and her other brothers were born only subse*uently." =hen %aivasvata Manu became old, he retired to the forest. ;la was appointed the ruler in his place. ;la set out on a voyage of con*uest and travelled throughout the world. There was a forest named sharavana, fre*uented by &hiva and Parvati. &hiva had decreed that any man who entered the forest would become a woman. (ing ;la did not !now about this rule and set foot in the forest inadvertently he immediately got transformed into a woman. =hat is going to happen to me nowC thought ;la. =here will ; liveC 'e even forgot all about his earlier life. The moon#god, Dhandra, had a son named ,udha. =hile ;la was wandering around. ,udha came upon her and fell in love with her. The two had a son named Pururava and Pururava was the ancestor of the lunar line. Meanwhile, ;!shva!u and the other brothers had started to loo! for ;la. =hen they could find no trace of their brother, they as!ed the sage %ashishtha if he !new of ;la>s whereabouts. %ashishtha used his mental powers to find out what had happened. 'e as!ed the princes to pray to &hiva and Parvati. That was the only way to ma!e ;la a man once more. The prayers pleased &hiva and Parvati and they found out what the princes want. ,ut what you desire is *uite impossible, they told ;!shva!u and his brother. ;la can never be made a man once again. At best, we will grant you the following boon. ;la will alternate between being a man for one month and a woman for one month. The princes had to be content with this. As a woman, ;la continued to be !nown as ;la. ,ut as a man, he came to !nown as &udyumna and had three sons named .t!ala, <aya and 'aritashva. Daksha and Sati

; will now tell you about )a!sha and &ati, $omaharshana told the sages. )a!sha had a daughter named &ati who was married to &hiva. )a!sha did not li!e his son#in#law at all. =hen he organi9ed a yajna, he did not invite &hiva to attend the ceremony. The story of the destruction of )a!sha>s yajna is mentioned in almost every Purana. The actual destruction is not described in the Matsya Purana. ;t can be found, for example, in the ,hagavata Purana." ,ut &ati went to the ceremony, although &hiva had not been invited. =hy did you not invite &hivaC &ati as!ed her father. ,ecause your husband is undeserving of such honour, replied )a!sha. 'e is not fit to be treated on par with the other gods. These words angered &ati. ; am ashamed that ; am your daughter. &he said. Dursed am ; that ; have had to hear such abuses of the great &hiva. ; no longer wish to be your daughter. ; will therefore give up this physical body that ; owe to you, by suicide. As for you, ; curse you that you will be born on earth as the son of the ten Prachetas. :ou will then try to perform an ashvamdha yajna horse sacrifice". ,ut &hiva will destroy the ceremony. )a!sha tried to pacify &ati. Please have mercy on me, he said. :ou are the mother of the entire universe. 'ow will the universe survive if you dieC ;t is only through your good grace that you manifested as my daughter. Please do not forsa!e me. =hat ; have said cannot be negated, replied &ati. ,ut ; will grant you this much. =hen you are born on earth, you will continue to be devoted to me. =here will ; pray to youC as!ed )a!sha. At what tirthasC And what are the names by which ; will address you in the course of my prayersC &ati then told )a!sha one hundred and eight of her names. &he also told him the names of one hundred and eight tirthas at which she was !nown by these respective names. These names and tirthas are as follows, with the names being given first and the tirthas second. /. %ishala!shi at %aranasi. 0. Gingadharini at 2aimisha. +. Galitadevi at Prayaga. 1. (ama!shi at <andhamadana. 3. (umuda at Manasa. 4. %ishva!aya at Ambara.

5. <omati at <omanta. 6. (amacharini at Mandara. 7. Madot!ata at Dhaitraratha. /8.Eayanti at 'astinapura. //.<ouri at (anya!uvja. /0.$ambha at Malayachala. /+.(irtimati at F!amra. /1.%ishva at %ishveshvara. /3.Puruhuta at Push!ara. /4.Margadayini at (edara. /5.2anda at 'imalaya. /6.,hadra!arni!a at <o!arna. /7.,havani at &thaneshvara. 08.%ilvapatri!at at %ilva. 0/.Madhavi at &hrishaila. 00.,hadra at ,hadreshvara. 0+.Eaya at %arahashaila. 01.(amala at (amalalalya. 03.$udrani at $udra!oti. 04.(ali at (alanjara. 05.(apila at Mahalinga. 06.Mu!uteshvari at Mar!ata. 07.Mahadevi at &halagrama. +8.Eanapriya at &hivalinga. +/.(umari at Mayapuri. +0.Galita at &antana. ++..tpala!shi at &ahasra!sha. +1.Mahotpala at (amala!sha. +3.Mangala at <angatira. +4.%imala at Purushottama. +5.Amogha!shi at %ipasha. +6.Patala at Pundravarddhana. +7.2arayani at &uparshva. 18.,hadrasundari at %i!uta.

1/.%ipula at %ipula. 10.(alyani at Malalyachala. 1+.(otavi at (otitirtha. 11.&ugandha at Madhavana. 13.Trisandhya at <odasharma. 14.$atipriya at <angadvara. 15.&hivananda at &hiva!unda. 16.2andini at )evi!atata. 17.$u!mini at )varavati. 38.$adha at %rindavana. 3/.)eva!i at Mathura. 30.Parameshvari at Patala. 3+.&ita at Dhitra!uta. 31.%indyavasini at %indhya. 33.F!avira at &ahyadri. 34.Dhandri!a at 'arichandra. 35.Aroga at %aidyanatha. 36.Maheshvari at Maha!ala. 37.Abhaya at .shnatirtha. 48.Amrita at %indhya!andara. 4/.Mandavi at Mandavya. 40.&vaha at Maheshvarapura. 4+.Prachanda at Dhhagalanda. 41.Dhandri!a at Ma!aranda. 43.%araroha at &omeshvara. 44.Push!aravati at Prabhasa. 45.)evamata at &arasvati. 46.Mata at &agara. 47.Mahabhaga at Mahalaya. 58.Pingaleshvari at Payoshni. 5/.&imhi!a at (ritashoucha. 50.:ashas!ari at (arti!eya. 5+.Gola at .tapalvarta. 51.&ubhadra at &honasangama.

53.Ga!shimata at &iddhapura. 54.Angana at ,haratashrama. 55.%ishvamu!hi at Ealandhara. 56.Tara at (ish!indhyachala. 57.Pushti at )evadaruvana. 68.Medha at (ashmiramandala. 6/.,himadevi at 'imachala. 60.Pushti at %ishveshvara. 6+.&huddhi at (apalamochana. 61.&ita at Mayavarohana. 63.)hvani at &han!hoddhara. 64.)hriti at Pendara. 65.(ala at Dhandrabhaga. 66.&hiva!arini at Achchhodatira. 67.Amrita at %ena. 78..rvashi at %adrivina. 7/.Bushadhi at .ttara!ur. 70.(ushoda!a at (ushavdvipa. 7+.Manmatha at 'ema!uta. 71.&atyavadini at Mu!uta. 73.%andaniy at Ashvattha. 74.2idhi at (uberalaya. 75.<ayatri at %edavadana. 76.Parvati at &hivasannidhana. 77.;ndrani at )evalo!a. /88.&arasvati at ,rahmamu!ha. /8/.Prabha at &uryabimba. /80.%aishnavi at Matrigana. /8+.Arundhati at &atismu!ha. /81.Tilottama. /83.,rahma!ala. /84.&ha!ti. 'aving recited these names, &ati immolated herself. &he was later reborn as Parvati or .ma, the daughter of Mena!a and 'imalaya. &he was remarried to

&hiva. As for )a!sha, he was born on earth as the son of the ten Prachetas. The Matsya Pruana now devotes several sections to shradha funeral" ceremonies. #rahmadatta There used to be a sage named (oushi!a. (oushi!a had seven sons named &vasripa, (rodhana, 'imsra, Pishuna, (avi, %agadushta and Pitrivarti. These sons all became disciples of the sage <arga. After (oushi!a died, there was a terrible drought on earth. -amine raged and people went hungry. <arga had as!ed his disciples to tend to his cattle and the seven brothers had ta!en the cattle to the forest so that they might browse on the grass that grew there. The brothers suffered so much from hunger that they decided to slay one of the cows and eat it. (illing a cow would be a sin, remar!ed the youngest. ;f we have to !ill the cow, let us at least perform its funeral ceremony. Perhaps that will reduce the severity of the sin that we are committing. The other brothers agreed to this. The funeral rites of the cow were observed. ;t was then !illed and eaten. The brothers returned to <arga and told him. A cow has been !illed and eaten by a tiger. <arga saw no reason to disbelieve them. ,ut the sin remained a sin. And as a conse*uence of having committed a crime, the brothers were born as hunters in their next lies. They were born as jatismaras. That is, they remembered the incidents of their earlier lives. &ince the brothers remembered what they had been in their earlier lives, they saw no reason to live as hunters. They therefore fasted until they died. They were next reborn as deer. ,ut the deer continued to be jatismaras and fasted to death. The brothers were reborn as birds. -our of the brothers continued to be detached from material pursuits and spent their time in meditation. ,ut the three remaining brothers were not so luc!y. The !ing of Panchala had once come to the forest with his group. The !ing>s name was %ibhraja. Bne of the birds was struc! by the !ing>s pomp and glory and wished to be born as a !ing in his next life. (ing %ibhraja and two ministers with him and all the soldiers seemed to be following the instructions of the ministers. Accordingly, two of the birds desired to be born

as ministers in their next lives. The one who wished to be a !ing was born as ,rahmadatta, (ing %ibhraja>s son. The two who desired to be born as ministers became Pundari!a and &uvala!a, the sons of the two ministers whom they had seen. The remaining three brothers were not attached to material pursuits and were born as brahmanas the first of the four classes". ,rahmadatta married (alyani. (ayanti had been the cow whom the brothers had !illed. =hat was most remar!able was the fact that ,rahmadatta could understand the languages of all living beings. ,rahmadatta and (alyani were once ta!ing a wal! in their garden. ,rahmadata heard two ants conversing. &ince he could understand the languages of all living beings, he could follow what the ants were saying. =hy are you angry with meC> as!ed the male ant. =hy are you refusing to spea! to meC <o away and do not pester me, replied the female ant. :ou say you love me very much. And yet, when you got some grains of sugar yesterday, you gave them to another ant and not to me. ; refuse to spea! to you. That was my mista!e, said the male ant. ; thought that it was you to whom ; was giving the grains of sugar. ; will never ma!e such a mista!e in the future. Please pardon me and smile. ; cannot bear to see you so angry. The ants made up. The conversation made ,rahmadatta laugh. (alyani naturally wanted to !now why ,rahmadatta was laughing and the !ing reported the entire conversation to his wife. ,ut (alyani refused to believe her husband. 'ow can any man understand the language of antsC she wanted to !now. :ou are lying. :ou must have been laughing at me. ,rahmadatta tried to convince his wife, but (alyani would not listen. The !ing did not !now what to do. ,ut while he was sleeping, he dreamt that %ishnu appeared before him and told him to wait till the next morning. ,rahmadatta>s mind would be set at rest then. $emember the four brothers who had been born as brahmanasC They were born as the sons of a brahmana named &udaridra and were named )hritimana, Tattvadarshi, %idyachanda and Tapotsu!a. &ince they were born

as jatismaras, they remembered their earlier lives and had no desire to tied down by material pursuits. They wanted to retire to the forest and meditate. ,ut &udaridra tried to restrain his sons. 'ow can you do thatC he as!ed 'ow can you retire to the forest to meditateC :our duty is to loo! after me in my old age. ;f you do not loo! after me, ; shall starve to death. Please do not commit that sin. :ou will not starve to death, replied his sons. <o to (ing ,rahmadatta and as! him for wealth. 'e will give you gold and villages. Tell him to remember the sage <arga, the hunters, the deer and the birds. The four sons went away to the forest. &udarida came to meet the !ing. 'e met the !ing on the day following ,rahmadatta>s dream. &udaridra>s words reminded ,rahmadatta of what he had been in his earlier lives. 'e was ashamed that he had forgotten those incidents and had become addicted to material pursuits. 'e decided to join his brothers in the forest. 'e gave &udaridra as much wealth as the brahmana wanted and handed over the !ingdom to the prince, %ishva!sena. The brothers Pundari!a and &uvala!a also accompanied ,rahmadatta to the forest. ;t was thus that (oushi!a>s seven sons eventually attained salvation. There is one thing we do not understand, said the sages. 'ow was it that ,rahmadatta could understand the languages of all living beingsC That is easily explained. $eplied $omaharshana. (ing %ibraja had prayed to %ishnu that he might obtain such a son and the boon was granted.

:ou forgot to tell us how ,udha was born, remar!ed the sages. 2or did you tell us anything about Dhandra>s birth. $omaharshana filled in the blan!s. The sage Atri was ,rahma>s son. Atri once performed very difficult tapasya. A tremendous amount of energy was released as a result of this meditation and the moon#god, Dhandra or &oma, was born from this energy. ,rahma appointed Dhandra ruler over all stars, planets and herbs oshadhi". Twenty#seven of )a!sha> daughter were married to Dhandra. These were the na!shatras stars". Dhandra performed a rajasuya yajna royal sacrifice" and the ceremony was an outstanding success. ,ut all this success and glory went to Dhandra>s head. The preceptor of the gods was the sage ,rihaspati and ,rihaspati>s wife was Tara. Dhandra>s eyes fell upon Tara and he forcibly abducted her. Bn several occasions ,rihaspati as!ed Dhandra to return Tara, but the moon#god would not listen. A terrible war then raged between the gods and demons over Tara. The gods fought on ,rihaspati>s side and the demons aided Dhandra. &hiva also fought on the side of the gods. As the war raged, &hiva let fly a terrible divine weapon named brahmashirsha at Dhandra. Dhandra countered this with another terrible divine weapon named somastra. These two weapons of destruction threatened to burn up the entire universe. ,rahma decided that it was time for him to intervene. &top this nonsense at once, he told Dhandra. =hat you have done is most improper. $eturn Tara at once. These words ashamed Dhandra and he returned Tara. ,ut Dhandra and Tara had already had a handsome son named ,udha. ,udha became very s!illed in the handling of elephants. ;n fact, the !nowledge of tac!ling and handling elephants goes bac! to ,udha. :ou already !now that ,udha married ;la and that they had a son named Pururava. Pururava and .rvashi Pururava was a very strong !ing who ruled the earth well. 'e performed one hundred ashvamedha yajnas. The three goals of human life are dharma righteousness", artha wealth" and !ama that which is desired". .sually, a fourth goal of mo!sha salvation" is added." These three goals wished to see which of them Pururava desired the most. They therefore adopted human forms and came to visit Pururava. Pururava treated them with utmost respect and gave them golden seats to sit on. 'e offered them all sorts of offerings. ;n the process, )harma received more of the offerings than Artha and (ama. This angered Artha and (ama. :ou will be destroyed, Artha cursed Pururava. :ou will go mad over .rvashi, (ama cursed Pururava ,ut )harma blessed Pururava. :ou will live for long and you will never deviate from the righteous path, he said. :our descendants will rule for ever. 'aving thus cursed and blessed Pururava, )harma, Artha and (ama disappeared. Bn one particular occasion, Pururava

was driving his chariot through a forest. 'e suddenly found that a demon named (eshi was abducting an apsara dancer of heaven". This apsara was none other than .rvashi. Pururava defeated the demon and rescued .rvashi. 'e restored her to ;ndra, the !ing of the gods. ;ndra was deligthed at this act and ;ndra and Pururava became friends. The sage ,harata taught man!ind how to sing and dance. To celebrate .rvashi>s return, ;ndra as!ed ,harata to stage a performance. As entertainers, ,harata chose three apsaras. They were Mena!a, .rvashi and $ambha. Mena!a and $ambha danced as they should. ,ut .rvashiw was attracted by (ing Pururava and !ept loo!ing at him. The result was that .rvashi fell out of step. This angered ,harata and he cursed .rvashi that she would have to spend fifty#five years on earth. Bn earth, .rvashi married Pururava and they had eight sons named Ayu, )ridayau, Ashvayu, )hanayu, )hritamana, %asu, &huchividya and &hatayu. The story of how Pururava lost .rvashi is not given in the Matsya Purana. Apart from the Mahabharata, it can be found in several other Puranas." $ayati ;n the lunar line there was a !ing named 2ahusha and 2ahusha>s son was :ayati. :ayati had two wives , &harmishtha and )evayani. &harmishtha was the daughter of %rishaparva, the !ing of the danavas demons". And )evayani>s father was &hu!racharya, the preceptor of the demons. )evayani gave birth to :adu and Turvasu and &harmishtha gave birth to )ruhya, Anu and Puru. :ayati ruled the world extremely well for many years. 'e performed many yajnas. ,ut eventually he grew old. The problem was that although :ayati grew old, he was not yet tired of sensual pleasures. 'e still desired to savour the joys that the world had to offer. :ayati told his five sons. ,ecause of &hu!racharya>s curse, an untimely old age has come upon me and ; am not content with what ; have savoured of life. ; re*uest one of you to give me his youth and accept my old age in return. =hen ; have satisfied myself with worldly pleasures, ; will ta!e bac! my old age and return the youth. Fxcept for Puru, the other four sons flatly refused such an exchange. They had no desire to part with their valued youth. They were thereupon cursed by their father. Although not mentioned in the Matsya Purana., the curse was that they or their descendants would never be !ings." As for Puru, he said, Please accept my youth and be happy. ;t is my duty to serve and ; will gladly ta!e upon me your old age. -or a thousand years :ayati savoured the pleasures of the world with Puru>s youth. A thousand years were not enough to satisfy :ayati. 'e accepted his old age and returned Puru>s youth. 'e blessed Puru for his obedience and announced to the word that Puru was his only true son. Puru inherited the

!ingdom after :ayati. 'is descendants were !nown as the Pauravas. ;t was in this line that (ing ,harata was born. ;t is after ,harata that the land we live in is !nown as ,haratavarsha. The sages interrupted $omaharshana. =hat is this curse of &hu!racharya>s that :ayati referred toC :ou have forgotten to tell us about that. ; will, replied $omaharshana. ,ut first, let me tell you about (acha and )evayani. (acha and )evayani The gods and the demons fought with each other all the time. As you !now, ,rihaspati was the preceptor of the gods and &hu!racharya was the preceptor of the demons. &hu!racharya !new a wonderful art !nown as mritasanjivani. This was the !nowledge of bringing bac! dead people to life. The 'arivamsha tells us that &hu!racharya learnt this art by praying to &hiva and pleasing him. The Matsya Purana refers to this story later." &ince &hu!racharya !new this art, the gods were terrified. Any demons whom the gods !illed were promptly brought bac! to life by &hu!racharya. ,ut ,rihaspati !new no such art. &o any gods that the demons !illed, stayed dead. The gods pondered about this problem and finally arrived at a solution. ,rihaspati had a son named (acha. The gods told (acha. <o and become &hu!racharya>s disciple. Try to learn the art of mritasanjivani from him. &hu!racharya has a beautiful daughter named )evayani. Try to gain her favour so that your tas! may become easier. (acha went to &hu!racharya. Please accept me as your disciple, he said. ; am the great ,rihaspati>s son. ; will serve you faithfully for a thousand years. &ince no mention was made of mritasanjivani. &hu!racharya gladly agreed to this proposition. (acha lived with &hu!racharya and served his guru teacher". 'e became friendly with )evayani and )evayani started to fall in love with (acha. -ive hundred years passed. The demons got to !now that (acha was ,rihaspati>s son. &ince they hated ,rihaspati, they hated (acha as well. (acha was in the habit of ta!ing &hu!racharya>s cattle to the forest to gra9e. =hen (acha was alone in the forest, the demons sei9ed their chance. They slew (acha and fed his body to the tigers. ;n the evening, the cattle returned home alone. (acha was not with them. &eeing this, )evayani told her father, The cattle have returned home without (acha. ; am certain that someone has !illed him. ; am in love with (acha and cannot survive without him. Please do something. )o not worry, &hu!racharya told )evayani. ; will bring (acha bac! to life with the art of mritasanijivani. As soon as &hu!racharya recited the magical mantra incantation", (acha appeared before them, strong and healthy. )ays passed. (acha went to the forest once more, this time to get flowers. The demons !illed him again. ,ut this time they burnt the dead body and mixed the ashes in a goblet of wine. They then served the wine to &hu!racharya to drin!. =hen (acha did not return, )evayani again told her father. ; am certain that someone has !illed

(acha. ; cannot survive without him. Please do something. Through this powers, &hu!racharya discovered what had happened. 'e told his daughter, =e have a real problem on our hands. (acha is inside my stomach. ; can revive (acha by summoning him through mritasanjivani. ,ut in the process, he will have to tear asunder my body and ; shall die. Tell me, beloved daughter, which do you wantC Fither (acha or your fatherC ; refuse the choice. replied )evayani. ,oth you and (acha must live. ; cannot survive without either. &hu!racharya then decided that there was only one way out. 'e addressed (acha, who was inside his stomach, and taught him the words of the mrtasanjivani mantra. 'e then recited the words himself and out came (acha. &hu!racharya>s body was torn apart and the sage died. ,ut (acha had learnt the words of the mantra. 'e now recited them to bring &hu!racharya bac! to life. (acha thus learnt what he had set out to achieve. After spending a thousand years with &hu!racharya, he prepared to return to heaven. =here are you goingC as!ed )evayani. )o you not !now that ; am in love with youC Please marry me. ; am afraid that ; cannot do that, replied (acha. :ou are my guru>s daughter. Therefore, you are my superior just as my guru is my superior. ; cannot marry you. Moreover, ; have spent some time inside his body. And when ; came out, it was as if a son had been born from him. :ou are therefore my sister. 'ow can ; possibly marry youC Thus spurned. )evayani became very angry. :ou are playing with words, she said. ; curse you that although you have learnt the art of mritasanjivani, it will prove to be of no use to you. :ou have needlessly cursed me, retorted (acha. ; too curse you that no brahmana will ever marry you and that you will never get whatever it is that you wish for. Sharmishtha and De ayani &harmishtha was the daughter of %rishaparva, the !ing of the danavas. &harmishtha and )evayani were great friends, until ;ndra played some mischief. The two friends had gone to bathe in a pond and had left their clothes on the ban!. ;ndra adopted the form of a bree9e and mixed up the clothes. =hen &harmishtha got her clothes after having had her bath, she put on )evayani>s clothes by mista!e. )evayani said, 'ow dare you wear my clothes C My father is your father>s teacher and you are my inferior in every respect. :ou have no business to put on my clothes. ; am not your inferior. replied &harmishatha. ;t is you who are my inferior. My father is the !ing and your father thrives on my father>s generosity. The two friends started to *uarrel. &harmishtha flung )evayani into a well and left her there, ta!ing her to be dead. At that time, (ing :ayati came to the forest on a hunt. 'e was thirsty and loo!ed for some water. =hen he found the well, he discovered )evayani inside it. 'e rescued )evayani. :ayati also fell in love with her, so that the two got married. &hu!racharya got to !now about all this and was furious at the treatment that &harmishtha had meted out to his daughter. 'e

threatened to leave the demons. %rishaparva did his best to persuade &hu!racharya not to leave them, but &hu!racharya insisted that he would stay only if )evayani was pacified. %rishaparva promised to give )evayani whatever it was that she wished for. &harmishtha has insulted me, said )evayani. &he has called me her inferior. My mind will be set at rest only if &harmishtha serves as a servant. %rishaparva agree to this condition and &haristha became )evayani>s servant, together with one thousand other demon women. After :ayati and )evayani got married. &hu!racharya told :ayati, &harmish is )evayani>s servant and you are married to )evayani. .nder no circumstances marry &harmishtha, otherwise ; am going to curse you. ;n due course, )evayani gave birth to :adu and Turvasu. &harmishtha had secretly married :ayati and she too gave birth to )ruhya, Anu and Puru. 'ow come you to have sonsC As!ed )evayani. =ho is your husbandC My husband is a brahmana, replied &harmishtha. ; do not !now his name. ,ut when )evayani as!ed )ruhya, Anu and Puru about their father, the truth came out. They told her that they were (ing :ayati>s sons. :ou have insulted me, )evayani told :ayati. :ou have married my servant. &hu!racharya was also furious. :ayati had gone against his wishes and had married &harmishtha. &hu!racharya cursed :ayati that old age would set upon the !ing, although he was still in the prime of youth. Please do not curse me, said :ayati. ; am married to your daughter. ; wish to live with her as her husband. )o you wish your son#in#law to be an old servantC My curse cannot be lifted, replied &hu!racharya. ,ut ; will try and mitigate the effects. ; grant you the power that you can pass on this old age to whomsoever you wish. ;t was this old age that Puru accepted. The Matsya Purana now describes the descendants of :adu, Turvasu, )ruhya, Anu and Puru.Mritasanjivani ,ut what about mritasanyjivaniC as!ed the sages. :ou haven>t told us how &hu!racharya came to ac*uire this wonderful !nowledge. $omaharshana told them the following story. The gods and the demons fought all the time and the demons were sometimes beaten up in these encounters. &hu!racharya consoled the demons. )o not worry, he said. ; will try and ac*uire powers that will ma!e the demons invincible. ; am going off to pray. =hile ; am gone, do not fight with the gods. <ive up arms and lead the lives of hermits. =ait till my return. &hu!racharya>s father was the sage ,rhrigu. The demons were instructed to wait in ,hrigu>s hermitage for &hu!racharya>s return. The preceptor of the demons began to pray to &hiva. =hen &hiva appeared, &hu!racharya told him that he wished to be taught a mantra that would ma!e the demons invincible. ; will grant your re*uest, said &hiva. ,ut you will have to observe a

difficult vrata religious rite". -or a thousand years you will have to meditate. And you will have to live only on smo!e. &hu!racharya agreed to observe the vrata. Meanwhile, the gods got to !now what &hu!racharya was up to. They reali9ed that, once &hu!racharya returned, they would be in no position to tac!le the demons. The best thing to do was to attac! the demons immediately, while they had given up arms and were living as hermits. The demons tried to tell the gods that this was not fair. They should not be attac!ed when they had forsa!en arms. ,ut the gods would not listen. They started to !ill the demons. The demons fled to &hu!racharya>s mother, ,hrigu>s wife, for protection. )o not despair, she assured the demons. ; will protect you. =hen the gods attac!ed, the lady used her powers to ma!e ;ndra completely immobile. ;ndra could not move at all. 'e stood there li!e a statue. This strange sight scared the gods so much that they started to run away. %ishnu came to help ;ndra. 'e told ;ndra to enter his body, so that %ishnu might be able to save him. ; will burn both of you up through my powers, said &hu!racharya>s mother. =hat are you waiting forC ;ndra as!ed %ishnu. Dant you see that this woman will destroy us bothC (ill her at once. %ishnu summoned up his &udarshana cha!ra and with this, he neatly severed the lady>s head. The sage ,hrigu was not present at that time. =hen he returned and found out what had happened, he was greatly angered. %ishnu had committed the crime of !illing a woman. ,hrigu therefore cursed %ishnu that he would have to be born several times on earth. These are %ishnu>s avataras incarnations". As for his own wife, ,hrigu resurrected her through his powers. Indra had a daughter named %ayanti 'aving failed in his attempt to !ill the demons, ;ndra reasoned that he ought to try and disturb &hu!racharya>s meditation. 'e therefore sent Eayanti to the place where &hu!racharya was praying. 'er instructions were to try and distract the sage. Eayanti served &hu!racharya faithfully throughout the appointed period of a thousand years. =hen the vrata was over, &hiva appeared before &hu!racharva and taught him the art of mritasanjivani. ;t was then that &hu!racharya noticed Eayanti. =ho are youC he as!ed. And why have you been serving me thusC ; am exceedingly pleased with what you have done. Tell me what ; can do for you. ;f you wish to grant me a boon, marry me and live as my husband for ten years, replied Eayanti. &hu!racharya was lured away by Eayanti. ;ndra was bent upon the destruction of the demons and he now hit upon a plan. 'e as!ed ,rihaspati to adopt &hu!racharya>s form and go to the demons. The demons were expecting their guru bac!after the thousand years were over and too! ,rihaspati to be &hu!racharya. They honoured him and served him faithfully. =hen the ten years with Eayanti were over,

&hu!racharya returned and discovered ,rihaspati among the demons. =ho is this upstartC> he demanded to !now. <ive him up and see! refuge with me. ; am the real &hu!racharya. 2ot at all, replied ,rihaspati. ; am the real &hu!racharya. The demons were very upset and confused. ,rihaspati and &hu!racharya were as ali!e as two peas in a pod@ there was no way of telling the apart. They finally reasoned that the person who had been living with them for the last ten years must be their real guru. They therefore accepted ,rihaspati and chased &hu!racharya away. &hu!racharya cursed the demons that they were bound to be destroyed. As soon as &hu!racharya cursed the demons, ,rihaspati adopted his own form. The demons reali9ed that they had been tric!ed, but the harm had been done. The Puranas (&istories) $omaharshana now gave the sages a list of the eighteen mahapuranas. ;n the beginning, there was only one Purana. The sage %edavyasa divided this original Purana into eighteen mahapuranas. The mahapuranas have four la!h shlo!as all together and their names are as follows. /. The ,rahma PuranaH This was originally recited by ,rahma to the sage Marichi and has thirteen thousand slo!as. This text should be donated on a full moon night purnima" in the month of %aisha!ha. &uch a donation brings undying punya. 0. The Padma PuranaH This has fifty#five thousand slo!as and should be donated in the month of Eyaishtha. +. The %ishnu PuranaH This was first recited by the sage Parashara and has twenty#three thousand slo!as. ;t is auspicious to donate this text in the month of Ashada. 1. The %ayu PuranaH This has twenty#four thousand slo!as and was first recited by the wind#god %ayu. ;t should be donated in the month of &hravana. 3. The ,hagavata PuranaH This has eighteen thousand slo!as and should be donated in the month of ,hadra, on the night of the full moon. 4. The 2arada PuranaH this was first recited by the sage 2arada and has twenty#five thousand slo!as. ;t should be donated on the night of the new moon amavasya" in the month of Ashvina. 5. The Mar!andeya PuranaH This has nine thousand slo!as. A person desirous of obtaining punya should donate this text in month of Margashirsa. 6. The Agni PuranaH This was first recited by the fire#god Agni to the sage %ashishtha. ;t has sixteen thousand slo!as and should be donated in the month of Margashirsha.

7. The ,havishya PuranaH ,rahma himself was the first reciter of this Purana and it has fourteen thousand and five hundred slo!as. ;t is primarily concerned with what is due to happen in the future. The text should be donated on the occasion of Purnima, in the month of Pousha. /8.The ,rahmavaivarta PuranaH This was first recited by &avarni Manu to the sage 2arada. ;t has eighteen thousand slo!as and should be donated on purnima in the month of Magha. //.The Ginga PuranaH ,rahma recited this first and it has eleven thousand sol!as. Punya is ac*uired if this text is donated in the month of Phalguna. /0.The %araha PuranaH The great %ishnu first recited this to the earth. ;t has twenty#four thousand slo!as and is to be donated in the month of Dhaitra. /+.The &!anda PuranaH This was composed by the god &!anda or (arti!eya. ;t has eighty#one thousand slo!as and one desirous of punya donates the text in the month of Dhaitra. /1.The %amana PuranaH ,rahma was the first person to recite this. ;t has ten thousand slo!as and the text should be donated in early autumn sharat". /3.The (urma PuranaH %ishnu recited this in his form of a turtle. ;t has eighteen thousand slo!as and should be donated at the time of the e*uinoxes. /4.The Matsya PuranaH %ishnu recited this in his form of a fish to Manu. ;t has fourteen thousand slo!as and should be donated at the time of the e*uinoxes. /5.The <aruda PuranaH (rishna was the first person to recite this and it has eighteen thousand shlo!as. =hen this text is to be donated is not stated." /6.The ,rahmanda PuranaH ,rahma recited this and it has twelve thousand and two hundred slo!as. The time of donation is again not indicated." ,ut these Puranas, as stated, are merely for human consumption. Much longer versions are read by the gods. The total number of shlo!as in the Puranas that the gods read is one hundred crores. The Matsya Purana now enumerates the details of various vratas. ;t continues with a description of the glories of the sacred city of Prayaga Allahabad", located at the confluence of the holy rivers <anga and :amuna. <eographical and astronomical details are also given. Ti'ura

There was a danava named Maya. Eust as %ishva!arma was the architect of the gods, Maya was the architect of the demons. =hen the demons were defeated by the gods, Maya started to perform very difficult tapasya so that the gods might be defeated. Maya>s meditation inspired two other demons to also meditate. Their names were %idyunmali and Tara!a. The meditation was so difficult that the world marveled at the sight of what the demons were doing. -inally, ,rahma was pleased at all this effort and appeared before the demons. ; am pleased with what you have done, said ,rahma. =hat boon do you wantC =e have been defeated by the gods, replied Maya. =e wish to build a fort that the gods will not be able to destroy. The fort will be named Tripura and we will live in it and become immortal. ;mmortality is a boon that cannot be granted. &aid ,rahma. ;f you want, set difficult conditions for your deaths. %ery well then, replied Maya. =e will be !illed only if &hiva himself destroys Tripura with a single arrow. Get that be the appointed method of our deaths. This boon ,rahma granted and Maya began the tas! of constructing the fort. ;n fact, he built three tri" fortresses pura". Bne was made of iron, the second of silver and the third of gold. 2ormally, the fortresses were distinct. ,ut once every thousand years, when the na!shatra Pushya was in the s!y, the three cities came together in the s!y and were called Tripura. Fach of the fortresses was stoc!ed with diverse weapons as protections against raids by the gods. Tara!a lived in the fort made of iron, %idyunmali in the one ma!e o f silver, and Maya himself lived in the one that was made of gold. The other demons got to !now that three invincible forts had been built. They came and populated the three cities. ,ut the demons were not evil at all. They observed all sorts of religious rites. ;n particular, they were devoted to &hiva and prayed to him all the time. They did not want &hiva to be angry with them. ;t was, after all, &hiva alone who could be the instrument for their destruction. Fventually, the demons became intoxicated with their own power and adopted evil ways. They warred upon other living beings and started to oppress the universe. Maya did try to persuade them to mend their ways, but the demons would not listen to Maya>s good advice. All the living beings in the universe went to ,rahma to complain. Please save us from this oppression, They said@ ;t is because of your boon that the demons have become so powerful. ; cannot help you, replied ,rahma. The boon is such that &hiva alone can destroy Tripura. Get us all pray to &hiva. The gods, the sages and the

humans started to pray to &hiva. Pleased with these prayers, &hiva promised to destroy Tripura. A special chariot was built for &hiva to ride in. ,rahma himself agreed to be the charioteer. The army of the gods got ready to help &hiva in his war against Tripura. A terrible war raged between the gods and the demons. 2andi is one of &hiva>s companions. 2andi fought with %idyunmali and slew the demon after a fierce battle. ,ut Maya !new all sorts of magical tric!s. 'e was particularly well#versed in the use of herbs. Maya gave %idyunmali a bath in the juice of magical herbs and %idyunmali immediately revived. This act greatly boosted the demons morale and they began to fight with renewed vigour. Any demons, who were !illed, were instantly revived by Maya. ,ut when &hiva himself entered the area the demons were put to flight. Fven the herbs that resurrected dead demons proved to be of no avail. 2andi !illed Tara!asura after a fierce duel. The demons were disheartened, but Maya reassured them. )on>t forget the boon, he said, There are only some special conditions under which Tripura can be destroyed. Btherwise it is indestructible. Pushya na!shatra is in the s!y now and soon the three cities will come together as one. The only person who can destroy it then is &hiva. And he must do it with a single arrow. All we have to do is ensure that &hiva cannot shoot the arrow and we are safe. ,ut this was easier said than done. ;t was no easy tas! to repel &hiva and his cohorts. 2andi !illed %idyunmali a second time. As soon as the three cities came together, &hiva shot a flaming arrow which completely burnt up Tripura and all the demons who were within. The only one who was saved was Maya. 'e did not die because he was extremely devoted to &hiva. Fver since that day, Maya has lived under the water. The Measurement o( Time The smallest unit of time is a nimesha@ this is the amount of time it ta!es to blin!. -ifteen nimeshas ma!e one !ashtha and thirty !ashthas are one !ala. Thirty !alas one muhurta and there are thirty muhurtas in one divaratra one day". -ifteen muhurtas constitute the day and fifteen muhurtas ma!e up the night. Bne month for humans is one day for the ancestors pitri". &hu!lapa!sha is the lunar fortnight during which the moon waxes and !rishnapa!sha is the lunar fortnight during which the moon wanes. &hu!lapa!sha corresponds to night for the ancestors and !rishnapa!sha corresponds to day. Thus, thirty human months are merely one month for the ancestors.

Three hundred and sixty human months are one year for the ancestors. Bne human year is one divaratara for the gods. The human year is divided into two ayanas, each consisting of six months. These are !nown as uttarayana and da!shinayana. .ttarayana is day for the gods and da!shinayana is night. Thirty human years are one month for the gods and three hundred and sixty human years are one year for the gods. Time is divided into four yugas eras". These are !nown as satya yuga or !rita yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and !ali yuga. The lengths of these yugas are defined in terms of years of the gods. &atya yuga has four thousand years of the gods, treta yuga three thousand, dvapara yuga two thousand and !ali yuga one thousand. A cycle of satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and !ali yuga is !nown as a mahayuga. Thus, a mahayuga would seem to consist of ten thousand years of the gods. ,ut this is not *uite correct. ;n between any two yugas are intervening periods, !nown as sandhyamshas. -or example, the sandhyamsha for satya yuga is four hundred years, for teta yuga three hundred years, for dvapara yuga two hundred years and for !ali yuga one hundred years. Bnce one adds the sandhyamshas, a mahayuga adds up to twelve thousand years of the gods. A little over seventy#one yugas constitute one manvantara. -ourteen such manvantaras are one !alpa. A !alpa is merely one day for ,rahma. At the end of ,rahma>s day, the universe is destroyed. ;t is then created afresh when a new day dawns for ,rahma.The Dharacteristics of the :ugas As one progressively moves down the scale from satya yuga to !ali yuga, the power of righteous diminishes and evil starts to triumph. ;n treta yuga people were righteous The system of varnashrama dharma goes bac! to teta yuga. This is typified in the principle of four varnas classes" and four ashramas stages of life". The four varnas are brhamanas, !shatriyas, vaishyas and shudreas. Fach class has its proper place, each its assigned occupations as determined by the principles of division of labour. The four ashramas are brhamacharya celibate studenthood". <arhasthya householder stage", vanaprastha forest#dwelling stage and sannyasa hermithood". Fveryone followed the tenets of varnashrama aharma in treta yuga. ;ndividuals were e*ually handsome and e*ually wealthy. Poverty and disease were un!nown. The weather was clement and, initially, there was no need to build houses. Dities and villages were not !nown. People lived freely in the mountains and on the shores of the oceans. ,ut as people became evil, the weather turned inclement. 'ouses had to built so the people might be protected from the heat and the cold. Dities and villages were planned and constructed.

Fvil became even more prevalent in dvapara yuga. ;n some cases, individuals began to practise that which was against the dictates of varnashrama dharma. To bring men bac! to the righteous path, the !nowledge of the sacred %edas had to be disseminated amongst humans. To this end, the great %edavyasa divided the %edas into four. %arious other sastras sacred texts" were also composed in dvapara yuga. These include ayurveda medicine", jyotisha astronomy" and arthashastra economics". 'atred, jealousy, warfare and other evils first originated in dvapara yuga. ;ndividuals did not stic! to their own classes while marrying, and cross# breeds started to be born. ,ut some remnants of righteousness could still be found, so that average life expectancies amounted to two thousand years. (ali yuga is the worst of the four eras. Theft, hatred, falsehood, fraudulence and egotism become the norm. As a natural corollary to such evils, drought and famine recur again and again. Fven the brahmans are led astray. They do not study the %edas, nor do they perform yajnas. The brahmanas degenerate so much that they mix with shudras. As for the sudras, they become !ings. &udras even start to study the %edas. Fvil always has its effect. )isease becomes rampant and life expectancies go down. Va)ranaga ;ndra had !illed many of )iti>s children, the daityas. )iti had wished to obtain a son who would !ill ;ndra. ,ut because she had not been able to adhere to the stipulated religious rites, the sons who had been born had become friends and companions of ;ndra. ,ut ;ndra continued to attac! and !ill the demons. )iti therefore prayed to her husband (ashyapa yet again that she might have a son who would defeat ;ndra. :our wish will be granted, said (ashyapa. ,ut you will have to meditate hard for ten thousand years. ;ndra>s weapon is the vajra and the son who will be born will have a body anga" that is as tough as the vajra will be able to do him no harm. )iti meditated for ten thousand years and in due course, gave birth to this powerful son. %ajranga was invincible. =hen %ajranga grew up, )iti told her son, ;ndra has !illed many of my sons. ; am thirsting for revenge. <o and !ill ;ndra. %ajranga set for heaven. 'e defeated ;ndra very easily and tied him up. 'e then brought ;ndra home to his mother and prepared to !ill the !ing of the gods. ;ndra>s death would have been a great calamity so ,rahma and (ashyapa rushed there. %ajranga, they said. Please do not !ill ;ndra. Get him go. ;f someone who deserves respect is insulted, that is li!e death for him. ;ndra

has been defeated by you. 'e has therefore been insulted and is as good as dead. There is no need to physically !ill him. Moreover, the very fact that you are letting ;ndra go at our re*uest will be !nown to all. Fven if he lives, everyone is going to regard him as dead. Gisten to our re*uest and let him go. ; am not averse to that suggestion at all, replied %ajranga. ; have no intention of !illing ;ndra. ; was merely obeying my mother>s instructions. 'ow can ; refuse two such revered individuals li!e youC Bne of you is the creator of the whole universe and the other one is my own father. ; will let ;ndra go. ,ut please grant me a boon. <rant me the boon that ; may be able to perform a lot of tapasya. This boon was readily granted. ;n addition, ,rahma created a beautiful woman named %arangi and married her off to %ajranga. %ajranga went to the forest to meditate. -or a thousand years, he stood with his arms raised up towards the s!y. And in this posture, he meditated. 'e then stood on his head for a thousand years more and meditated. As a final part of the tapasya, he wished to meditate under the water for a thousand years more. =hen %ajranga entered the water, his wife %arangi patiently waited for her husband to return. And all the while, she too meditated. ;ndra was not going to forget and wanted to retaliate. 'e adopted the form of a mon!ey and uprooted all the trees in %arangi>s hermitage. 'e next adopted the form of a sheep and ate up all the grass that was there. 8As a sna!e, he tried to bite the lady. -inally, he adopted the form of a cloud and drenched the hermitage in torrents of rain. &ince %arangi was meditating, she was in no position to retaliate or protect herself. &he had to bear all these depredations. =hen the thousand years were over, %ajranga returned. 'e was shoc!ed to learn of the tortures that his wife had been subjected to by ;ndra. 'e began to meditate again. This time, he wished for a son who would !ill ;ndra. ,rahma appeared and granted %ajranga the desired boon. :ou will have a son who will be the terror of the gods, said ,rahma. 'e will be called Tara!a. -or a thousand years %arangi bore the baby in her womb. =hen Tara!a was born, the earth trembled and tidal waves were created in the ocean. -ierce storms started to rage. =ild animals rejoiced and the sages shuddered. ;n due course, Tara!a was crowned the !ing of the demons.

Tarakas Ta'asya Tar!a was determined to defeat the gods. ,ut he reali9ed that, prior to waging war on the gods, he would have to become powerful. &uch powers could be attained through tapasya. Tara!a went to the Pariparta mountains and selected a cave there for his meditation. -or some days Tara!a ate nothing, for some more days he survived only on water, and on other days he ate only leaves. Fvery day he sliced off some flesh from his body and offered it to the fire as a to!en of his devotion. All this hardship pleased ,rahma and he appeared before Tara!a. Fnough is enough, said ,rahma. ; am pleased at your devotion. =hat boon can ; grant youC ; want to fight with the gods, replied Tara!a. The gods have been giving the demons a hard time and ; intended to reverse the tide. Please grant me the boon that ; may be invincible and immortal. ;mmortality is not a boon that can be granted to any living being. &aid ,rahma. All living beings must die.

,ut if you want, set difficult conditions for your death. ;n that case, please grant me the boon that ; can only be !illed by a seven year old child, re*uested Tara!a. ,rahma gladly granted this boon. The =ar ,etween the <ods and the )emons -ortified with ,rahma>s boon, Tara!a started to rule the demons. After some years had passed and after Tara!a had raised a strong army, he decided to attac! heaven. A huge army of demons was accordingly raised. There were thousands of elephants, horses and chariots in the army. Apart from Tara!a, the major generals in the army were Eambha, (ujambha, Mahisha, (unjara, Megha, (alanemi, 2imi, Mathana, Eambha!a and &humbha, )iverse were the weapons that the demons armed themselves with. The gods also prepared themselves for the war, having first appointed :ama as their general. :ama rode into battle on a buffalo. ;ndra had his chariot, driven by his charioteer Matali. The fire#god Agni rode on a goat and %aruna, the lord of the oceans, rode a sna!e. Amongst the other gods who were in the army were Dhandra, &urya and (ubera, the god of prosperity and wealth. The war was terrible to behold. The trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses and the beating of drums made a terrible rac!et. Above all this there was the noise of weapons clanging and bows twanging. Dhariots fought with Dhariots, elephants with elephants, horses with horses and foot# soldiers with foot#soldiers. The s!y was thic! with spears, maces, axes, swords, tridents, clubs and arrows flying around. )ead bodies littered the battlefield and rivers of blood began to flow. :ama fought a fierce duel with a demon named <rasana and (ubera fought with Eambha. (ujambha also fought with (ubera and put (ubera to flight. (alanemi fought with both Dhandra and &urya. The two Ashvinis received a good beating from the hands of (alanemi>s. The news that the gods were being slaughtered reached %ishnu so %ishnu decided to join the fight. The demons immediately attac!ed %ishnu, but were no match for him. Bne of %ishnu>s maces !noc!ed (alanemi unconscious. %ishnu>s ca!ra sliced off <rasana>s head. Eambha did manage to !noc! %ishnu unconscious with a club. ,ut ;ndra slew Eambha with a divine weapon. The trouble however was with Tara!a. =hen he came to fight, the gods had no option but to flee. Those who did not, were captured and imprisoned. The demon won a resounding victory. #rahmas *d ice Bf the gods who had survived the battle and were still free started to pray to ,rahma. =hat can ; do for youC as!ed ,rahma. =hy are all of you loo!ing so despondentC :ou are the one who is responsible for our misfortune, replied the gods. :ou

have granted Tara!a a boon that has made him virtually invincible. Armed with this boon, he is oppressing the universe and has soundly thrashed us. =hat are we to do nowC There is no cause for such despondency, said ,rahma. Tara!a is not immortal. 'e will be slain by a seven year old child. .nfortunately that child has not yet been born. 'e will be the son of &hiva. The problem is that &hiva is unmarried. 'e was earlier married to &ati, but &ati committed suicide at the time of a yajna. &he has now been reborn as Parvati. The tas! at hand is to get &hiva and Parvati married. Their son will !ill Tara!a. ;t was necessary to ma!e &hiva fall in love with Parvati. Madana, the god of love, was sent by ;ndra to &hiva>s hermitage so that this might be achieved. ,ut because this disturbed &hiva>s meditation, &hiva burnt Madana up. Meanwhile, Parvati had begun to perform tapasya so that she might have &hiva for a husband. -or one hundred years more, she ate only one leaf a day. And for the final hundred years, she meditated and continued fasting. The seven great sages went and told &hiva about Parvati>s tapasya and &hiva agreed to marry Parvati. The marriage too! place amidst a great deal of fanfare. All the rivers and the mountains came to attend the ceremony. &o did the sages, the gods, the gandharvas, the apsaras and the ya!shas. ,rahma himself acted as the priest for the marriage ceremony. (ali ,ecomes <ouri Bn one particular occasion, &hiva addressed Parvati as (ali. The word !ali means dar! and Parvati thought that &hiva referring to her dar! complexion. &he did not reali9e that &hiva was merely trying to tease her a bit. <reatly incensed at the imagined slight, Parvarti decided that she would meditate so that she might become fair. &he wore clothing made of bar!s of trees and performed tapasya. ;n the summer she prayed inside a raging fire and in the winter she prayed under the water. &ometimes, she ate only roots and fruits. At other times, she fasted. Prior to leaving for her tapasaya, Parvati had instructed 2andi that he was to stand guard at &hiva>s door and permit no other woman to enter. There was a demon named Adi. This fellow had performed a lot of tapasya and had manage to please ,rahma. =hen ,rahma agreed to grant him a boon. Adi as!ed for the boon of immortality. ,rahma naturally refused this boon. 'e however granted Adi the boon that the demon would die only when he changed his form twice, not otherwise. Adi happened to come to &hiva and Parvati>s house and discovered 2andi standing guard at the door. =ondering what there was to be guarded, he adopted the form of a sna!e and slithered in. 2andi did not notice the sna!e, but this was Adi>s first transformation. ;nside the house, Adi encountered &hiva and thought that he would play a tric! on &hiva. 'e adopted Parvati>s form. This was his second transformation. ;n the form of Parvati, Adi went up to &hiva and greeted him. ;nitially, &hiva did not reali9e that this was not

Parvati. 'e greeted the demon and said, )arling, ; am delighted that you have returned. ; can see that your rage has cooled down. ,ut in a little while &hiva reali9ed that this was not Parvati. 'e slew the demon. Meanwhile, Parvati was continuing with her tapsaya and pleased ,rahma with her prayers. ,rahma granted her the boon that she would become fair. &ince the word 'gouri' means fair, Parvati was thereafter !nown as <ouri. A goddess named (oushi!i emerged out of Parvati>s cells, thus named because the word !osha means cell. The dar!ness of Parvti>s complexion entered (oushi!i>s body. ,rahma re*uested the goddess (oushi!i to go and live in the %indhya mountains. &he is therefore also !nown as %indhyavasini. +artikeya and Taraka (arti!eya or &!anda was born after some days. The boys shone with the radiance of a thousand suns and had six shada" faces anana". 'e was therefore also !nown as &hadanana. &ome other Puranas li!e the ,rahmavaivarata Purana state that &!anda got lost when he was small and was brought up by the (ritti!as. That is how he ac*uired the name of (arti!eya. The (ritti!as were goddesses, also identified as stars the Pleiades"." The gods armed (arti!eya with diverse weapons and appointed him their general. They re*uested him to !ill the demon Tara!a and arrangements were made for the battle. =hen Tara!a saw (arti!eya he said, =hat is a boy li!e you doing in a battlefieldC <o and play with a ball instead. A battlefield is not the place for idle tal!, replied (arti!eya. &how me your prowess instead. At these words, Tara!a flung a club at (arti!eya. ,ut (arti!eya easily repelled the club with a vajra. The demon next hurled an axe, but (arti!eya effortless caught the axe in his hand. 'e then struc! the demon with a club of his own. This angered Tara!a so much that the demon showered all sorts of weapons on (arti!eya. ,ut the boy repelled all of these and started to !ill demons with his own weapons. Many demons fled in dismay. As for Tara!a himself, (arti!eya>s spear pierced him in the chest and !illed him. Thus it was that ,rahma>s boon became ture. &iranyakashi'u )iti had a son named 'iranya!ashipu. This demon meditated for eleven thousand years under the water. Throughout this period, he did not eat or tal! at all. These meditations pleased ,rahma and ,rahma offered to grant 'iranya!asipu a boon. =hat boon do you wish forC he as!ed. ;f you are pleased, grant me the following boon, replied the demon. ; will not be !illed by gods, demons, gandharvas, ya!shas, ra!shasas or sna!es. ; will not be !illed by humans or ghosts. The sages will not be able to curse me. ; will not !illed by a weapon, a mountain or a tree. ; will not be !illed during the day or at night. ; will not be !illed by something that is dry or by something that is wet. This rather strange boon ,rahma granted. ,ut the sages, the gods, the

gandarvas and the sna!es went and complained to ,rahma. =hat have you doneC they as!ed. This demon is now going to oppress the entire universe. )on>t worry, replied ,rahma. =hen the time comes, %ishnu himself will !ill 'iranya!ashipu. ,ut true to expectations, the demon started to oppress the world. 'e destroyed the hermitages of the sages and drove the gods out of heaven. All yajnas were stopped. The gods and the sages started praying to %ishnu. &tirred by these prayers, %ishnu adopted the form of a strange being who was half#man and half#lion. &ince 'nara' means man and 'simha' means lion, this being was called 2arasimha. 2arasimha went on a visit to 'iranya!ashipu>s court. 'iranya!ashipu had a son named Prahlada and at the sight of 2arasimha. Prahlada exclaimed. ; have a strong suspicion that this being is none other than %ishnu and that we demons will suffer at his hands. 'iranya!ashipu as!ed his soldiers to capture the creature. Br, if that proved to be impossible, to !ill it. ,ut the soldiers could do no such thing@ 2arasimha !illed them all. 'iranya!asipu then himself hurled all sorts of weapons at 2arasimha. ,ut great was his bewilderment at finding that all these weapons could do the strange creature no harm. Any weapons could do the strange creature no harm. Any weapon that was hurled was simply swallowed up by 2arasimha. The roc!s that were flung at him could not even reach him. 2arasimha grasped 'iranya!ashipu and placed him across his thighs. 'e then tore apart the demon>s chest with his claws. Thus, 'iranya!ashipu was not !illed by a weapon, a mountain or a tree, or by something that was either wet or dry. %ishnu in his 2arasimha form was not a god, a demon, a gandharva, a ya!sha, a ra!shasa, a sna!e, a human or a ghost. &ince the slaying too! place in the evening, it was neither night nor day. All the conditions of ,rahma>s boon were met. The entire world rejoiced at the demon#!ing>s death. The Matysa Purana now describes the glories of several tirthas, including the sacred city of %aranasi or (ashi. ;t also lists the lineages of various famous sages li!e ,hrigu, Angira, Atri, %ishvamitra, (ashyapa, %ashishtha, Parashara and Agastya.&avitri There used to be a !ing named Ashvapati who ruled in the !ingdom of Madra. Ashvapati had no sons. 'e therefore began to pray to the goddess &avitri so that he might have a son. 'e performed thousands and thousands of yajnas. Fventually the goddess appeared before the !ing and said, :ou will not have a son. ,ut ; am going to grant you a daughter.> The daughter was named Malati. ,ut since she was born as a result of a boon received from the goddess &avitri, she was more popularly !nown as &avitri. =hen &avitri grew up, she was married to &atyavana, the son of (ing )yumatsena. The sage 2arada once came to visit them and told them. &atyavana is going

to die within a year. 'earing this, &avitri and &atyavana went off to the forest to prepare themselves for the impending death. =hen only four days of the appointed life span were left, &avitri observed a religious rite that has now become famous &avitri rata. Amongst other things, this involved fasting for a period of three days Bn the fourth and final day, &atyavana went to collect fodder, roots and fruits in the dense part of the forest and &avitri also accompanied her husband. =hen they were tired, &avitri sat down beside a pond to rest. &atyavana continued to collect fodder and firewood near the pond. =hile he was thus engaged, he started to suffer from a splitting headache. &avitri, he said, ; cannot bear this pain any longer. Get me rest for a while with my head in your lap. =hile &atyavana was resting with his head on &avitri>s lap, :ama arrived to claim &atyavana. :ama>s complexion was dar! and he was dressed entirely in yellow. 'is crown was golden. Armlets graced his arms and nec!laces hung around his nec!. ;n each human body there is an entity that is only the si9e of a finger in length. This is the part of the body that is claimed by :ama and ta!en to his abode. =hen this is done, only the dead body is left. :ama tied up &atyavana>s minute body in a noose and prepared to ta!e it to his abode. ,ut when :ama left, &avitri followed him. =here do you thin! you are goingC as!ed :ama. ; am following my husband, replied &avitri. There is no greater duty for a wife than serving her husband. &ince my husband is leaving, ; have to leave with him. ; am pleased at your devotion, said :ama. As! for a boon and ; shall grant it to you. The only thing that you cannot as! for is that &atyavana be brought bac! to life. My father#in#law has become blind, replied &aviti. 'e can therefore no longer be the !ing. Please grant me the boon that his eyesight is restored so that he can become the !ing again. ; grant you that. &aid :ama. 2ow please return. :ou will unnecessarily get tired if you follow me. 'ow ; can get tired if ; follow youC as!ed &avitri. :ou are the chief of all the gods. ;s it possible to get tired if one follows youC That pleases me even more, said :ama. As! for another boon. ,ut under no circumstances are you allowed to as! that &atyavana be brought bac! to life. My father has no sons, replied &avitri. Please grant me the boon that he may have a hundred sons. ; grant you that, said :ama. 2ow return. <o and perform your husband>s funeral rites. &erve your parents and parents#in#law well. :ou are unnecessarily tiring yourself by following me around. ; than! you for your advice. $eplied &avitri. ,ut ; have already told you that ; cannot possibly get tired . :ou are the lord of dharma, the lord of righteousness. Dan one possibly tire oneself by following such a personC :our devotion is truly ama9ing, As! for another boon. ,ut do not as! for &atyavana>s life. Please grant me the boon that &atyavana and ; may have a hundred sons, re*uested &avitri. :ama granted the boon without thin!ing and &avitri then pointed out that what :ama had agreed to would be impossible if &atyavana died. :ama had no option but to restore &atyavana to life. :ama blessed &avitri and went away.

;n due course, &atyavana and &avitri had a hundred sons named that Malvas. &avitri is a model for all devoted wives to follow. The Matsya Purana follows this up with a recital of the duties of !ings and a cataloguing of various omens. There is also a section on the interpretation of dreams. Va!i There was a demon named %ali who was descended from 'iranya!ashipu. Fxtremely strong, he defeated the gods and drove them out of heaven. The mother of all the gods was Aditi and Aditi was despondent that her sons should suffer so at the hands of demons. &he therefore began to pray to %ishnu so that she might have a powerful son who would provide a fitting reply tot he demons, particularly to %ali. -or a thousand years, Aditi meditated. %ishnu was pleased at these prayers and appeared before Aditi. =hat boon do you wish forC he as!ed. The demons are oppressing my children, replied Aditi. Please grant me a son who will defeat the demons. )o not despair, said %ishnu. ; myself will be born as your son. ; will ta!e care of the demons. Aditi>s husband was the sage (ashyapa. (ashyapa and Aditi accordingly had a son. This son was a dwarf vamana". %ali happened to organi9e a yajna and the dwarf came to attend the ceremony. Bn the occasion of the yajna. %ali had decided that he would not refuse anyone what he as!ed for. &hu!racharya was the preceptor of the demons and naturally, he was %ali> guru as well. &hu!racharya saw through the tric!ery that was involved and reali9ed that the dwarf was none other than %ishnu. 'e tried to put %ali on his guard and warned %ali that he should not grant what the dwarf as!ed for. ,ut %ali would not listen. %ishnu is the lord of everything. 'e said. ; am indeed fortunate if %ishnu has come to grace my ceremony in the disguise of a dwarf. 'ow can ; refuse what he as!s forC %ali welcomed the dwarf with offerings. =hat is your desireC he as!ed. ; am duty bound to give you what you as! for. ; desire nothing much, replied the dwarf. ; do not want gold or riches or elephants or horses. All that ; as! for is as much of land as can be covered in three of my footsteps. <ranted, said %ail. 2o sooner were the words uttered that he dwarf assumed a gigantic form. 'is head rose way up into the s!y. =ith each one of his footsteps, %ishnu covered one of the three worlds. Thus %ali ended up by donating all of the three worlds to %ishnu and there was nowhere for the demons to live in. ,ut %ishnu was pleased at %ali>s generosity. 'e therefore decreed that, henceforth, the demons would live in the underworld. As for heaven, it was returned to ;ndra. This was the story of

%ishnu>s dwarf incarnation. The ,oar ;ncarnation At the end of the last !alpa, there was a general destruction and the universe was flooded with water. %ishnu alone slept on this water in his form of 2arayana. =hen it was time for creation to begin, ,rahma appeared inside an egg. All the worlds that would be there in the universe and all the beings who would populate these worlds were inside the egg. ,ut before creation could start, the earth had to be created so that living beings might have a place to live in. =hen the earth was first created, it was full of mountain ranges and these mountains were exceedingly heavy. The upshot of this was that the earth could not bear the weight of these mountains and started to get immersed in the water. &he went all the way down to the underworld. The earth started to pray to %ishnu so that she might be saved. %ishnu adopted the form of a gigantic boar varaha". 'e entered the water and raised the earth up on his tus!s. 'e laid her to rest on the water, having first levelled out the mountains. This was the story of %ishnu>s boar incarnation. The pastime of the boar incarnation is lin!ed to the story of the demon 'iranya!sha. 'iranya!sha was 'iranya!ashipu>s brother. 'e sent the earth to the underworld and also stole the %edas. %ishnu !illed 'iranya!sha in his form of a boar and rescued the earth and the %edas. The 'iranya!sha story is found in several Puranas, such as the %ishnu Purana. The Dhurning of the Bcean The gods and the demons always fought with one another. ;n the process, many demons and gods were !illed. This was no problem for the demons. Their teacher, &hu!racharya, !new the art of mritasanjivani and immediately brought the dead demons bac! to life. ,ut the gods who were !illed stayed dead. The gods went to ,rahma for his advice. 'aving a temporary truce with the demons, said ,rahma. .nite with them and churn the ocean. This churning will ma!e you immortal and you will have no reason to fear the demons. The gods went to meet %ali, the !ing of the demons, with the proposal and %ali agreed to the temporary truce. Preparations were made for the churning of the ocean. Mount Mandara was used as the rod for churning and the great sna!e %asu!i agreed to be the churning#rope . The problem however was the Mount Mandara had no base to rest on. And without a base, the pea! would move and the churning could not proceed. The great %ishnu adopted the form of a huge turtle !urma". The bac! of the turtle provided the base on which Mount Mandara could rest. The churning started. The gods held %asu!i>s tail and the demons the head. The churning went on for a thousand years of the gods. The first object to emerge as a result of the churning was the moon. Dhandra. 'is emergence as a result of the churning was thus a!in to are birth." &hiva accepted Dhandra as an adornment for his forehead. Ga!shmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, emerged next and was united with %ishnu, &ura, the goddess of wine and drin!ing, came out next. &he was followed by the

divine horse. .chchaishrava. This was appropriated by ;ndra. Bther accounts of the churning, such as in the Mahabharata, mention an elephant named Airavata, also appropriated by ;ndra." A beautiful jewel named !oustubha came out next and was accepted by %ishnu as his adornment. After these wondrous objects had come out, smo!e started to billow out and clouded the atmosphere. The cloud was followed by tongues of fire which threatened to burn up the gods and the demons. -rom the fire there came out all sorts of poisonous sna!es and venomous insects. This was followed by a terrible poison !nown as !ala!uta. 2o one !new what to do with the poison, it would have !illed them all. The gods and the demons began to pray to &hiva for deliverance. &hiva appeared and swallowed up the poison. ;t suc! in his throat and made his throat blue in colour. &ince 'nila' means blue and '!antha' means throat, &hiva came to be !nown as 2ila!antha. =ith the danger removed, the churning continued and )hanvantari came out of the ocean. 'e was the physician of the gods and the originator of medicine ayurveda". )hanvantari held the pot of amrita in his hands. The demons immediately started to fight over the possession of the amrita. ,ut %ishnu adopted the form of a beautiful woman !nown as mohini". This woman was so pretty that all the demons fell in love with her and gladly handed over the pot of amrita to her. ,ut they continued to fight with the gods. =hile the fighting went on, %ishnu secretly fed the gods the amrita. The gods became immortal. The demons received no amrita, not a single drop except for $ahu. There was a demon named $ahu. 'e adopted the form of a god and managed to get a little bit of the amrita. ,ut &urya and Dhandra spotted the deception and pointed it out to %ishnu. %ishnu promptly severed $ahu>s head with his cha!ra. The amrita never percolated down beyond $ahu>s throat. ,ut the demon>s head had had its share of the amrita and became immortal. $ahu never forgave &urya and Dhandra for telling on him. $ahu>s head tries to swallow up the sun and the moon, given a chance. :ou can see this happening at the time of the solar and lunar eclipses. *rchitecture The science of architecture owes its origin to eighteen great sages. Their names are ,hrigu, Atri, %ashishtha, %ishva!arma, Maya, 2arada, 2agnajita, %ishala!sha, Puranadara, ,rahma, (arti!eya, 2andishvara, &houna!a, <arga, %asudeva, Aniruddha, &hu!ra and ,rihaspati. The building of a house should never be begun in the month of Dhaitra. A person who does this is sure to contract a disease. The month of %aisha!ha is a good time to begin. Bne who does this is bound to own many cows. The months of Agrahayana, Magha and -alguna are also auspicious. An

individual who begins the tas! in Agrahayana has full granaires, one who begins it in Magha attains all sorts of riches and one who begins it in -alguna obtains gold and sons. Ashada is also a good month to start. &ervants and animals are owed by a person who starts the building in Ashada. The months of Eyaishtha, &hravana, ,hadra, Ashvina and Pousha are inauspicious. ;f you start in Eyaishta, you will die soon@ you will also die if you begin in &hravana@ begin in ,hadra and you will suffer from all manner of losses@ your wife will die if you start the tas! in the month of Ashvina@ and all your goods will be stolen if you start in the month of Pousha. ;t is best to begin the building of a house when the na!shatras Ashvini, $ohini, Mula, .ttarabhadrapada, .ttarashada, .ttarafalguni or Mrigashira are in the s!y. Any day is permissible with the exception of &unday and Tuesday. The ground on which the house is to be built has to be tested. A pit should be dug and a sapling planted. ;f the sapling thrives and grows into a big tree, the ground has been well#chosen. ,ut if the tree withers away or does not grow into a strong tree, one ought to move somewhere else. A diagram is then drawn on the ground, in the form of a s*uare with eighty#one smaller s*uares inside it. That is the larger s*uare will be subdivided into nine s*uares along very side. 2ine multiplied by nine gives the eighty# one smaller s*uares. ;n each of these eight#one smaller s*uares, a specific god has to be worshipped. Di((erent ty'es o( houses A house that has doors on all four sides is !nown as a sarvatobhadra. &uch a configuration is recommended for palaces or temples. A house that does not have a door to the west is !nown as a nandyavarta@ a house that does not have a door to the south is !nown as a varddhamana@ a house that does not have a door to the east is !nown as a svasti!a@ and a house that does not have a door to the north is !nown as rucha!a. A palace should be one hundred and eight cubits hand#lengths" in length. ;f a prince, and not a !ing, is to live in the palace, sixty#six cubits are the recommended length. Bther recommended lengths are sixty#four cubits for generals, forty#eight cubits for ministers, twenty#eight cubits for artisans and twelve cubits for messengers and guards. Priests and physicians are entitled to twenty#four cubits. An ordinary householder should build a house that is thirty#two cubits in length. The sole exception is an outcast, he is entitled to only sixteen cubits. There should not be any trees in the front of the house. ,ut trees have to be planted towards the bac!. The wood with which the house has to be built must be carefully chosen. Bne must not cut down a tree that birds have built nests on. Dertain trees must never be chosen. These include those that have been gashed by an elephant or struc! by lightning. They also include trees that grow near temples or at the of rivers and trees from cremation grounds.

2eem trees and mango trees must never be used for building houses. The height of the tree should be multiplied by its circumference. This product should now be divided by eight. ;f the remainder that is left is one, the timber can be used in building any part of the house. &uch timber is !nown as dhvaja. =hen the remainder is two the timber is !nown vrisha and should be used in constructing the western door. =hen the remainder is three the timber is called simha and should be used for the northern door. The name is vrishabha if the remainder is four and such wood should be used for the eastern door. =hen the remainder is five the timber is given the name of hasti and should be used for the southern door. Dieties must to ,e insta!!ed in tem'!es %ishnu>s image should have either eight hands or four. ;f there are eight hands, the arms to the right should hold a shan!ha concha#shell", a gada mace", a shara arrow" and a padma lotus". The arms to the left should hold dhanu bow", a padma, a shan!ha and a cha!ra bladed#discus". ;f there are four hands, the mace and the lotus should be to the right and the cha!ra and the conch#shell to the left. %ishnu will be shown standing on the world. <aruda, the !ing of the birds, bears him around <aruda will therefore be shown at %ishnu>s feet, towards the right. Ga!shmi>s image must always be to the left of %ishnu>s image and Ga!shmi will hold a lotus in her hand. The best deities are made out of gold, silver, copper, jewels, stone, wood, from alloys. The proportions of the various parts of the body must be exactly right. &hiva>s image must have matted hair and he must wear a crescent moon on his forehead. The deities must convey the impression that &hiva is sixteen years old. &hiva must be dressed in tigers!in and must be garlanded with sna!es. A peacoc! feather should adorn on ear. ;f a spear, a rod or a trident are shown, they must be to the right. And if a s!ull, a sna!e or a sword are shown, they must be to the left. =hen &hiva is show riding a bull, his image has two hands. ,ut when he is shown in a dancing posture, the image has ten hands. ;f the intention is to show him destroying Tripura, the image must have sixteen hands. There is one particular image that deserves special mention. This is !nown as arddhanarishvara, half#male and half#female. The &hiva part of the image will be to the right and the Parvati part of the image will be to the left. The right hand of the image will hold a s!ull or a trident and the left hand of the image will hold a lotus or a mirror. There is another type of image !nown as .ma#Maheshvara. ;n this case, there are two separate images, one of &hiva and the other of Parvati. The deities of various other gods and goddesses are also described.

Pa i!ions (manda'a) These are classified in terms of the number of pillars that are used in their construction, and there are twenty#seven main types of pavilions. /. A pushpa!a pavilion has sixty#four pillars. 0. A pushpabhadra pavilion has sixty#two pillars. +. A suvrata pavilion has sixty pillars. 1. An amritanandana pavilion has fifty#eight pillars. 3. A doushalya pavilion has fifty#six pillars. 4. A buddhisam!irna pavilion has fifty#four pillars 5. A gajabhadra pavilion has fifty#two pillars. 6. A jayavaha pavilion has fifty pillars. 7. A shrivatsa pavilion has forty#eight pillars. /8.A vijaya pavilion has forty#six pillars. //.A vastu!irti pavilion has forty#four pillars. /0.A shrutinjaya pavilion has forty#two pillars. /+.A yajnabhadra pavilion has forty pillars. /1.A vishala pavilion has thirty#eight pillars. /3.A sushlishta pavilion has thirty#six pillars. /4.A shatrumardana pavilion has thrity#four pillars. /5.A bhagapancha pavilion has thrity#two pillars. /6.A nandana pavilion has thirty pillars. /7.A manava pavilion has twenty#eight pillars. 08.A manabhadra!a pavilion has twenty#six pillars. 0/.A sugriva pavilion has twenty#four pillars. 00.A hairta pavilion has twenty#two pillars. 0+.A !arni!ara pavilion has twenty pillars. 01.A shatarddhi!a pavilion has eighteen pillars. 03.A simha pavilion has sixteen pillars. 04.A shyamabhadra pavilion has fourteen pillars. 05.A samudra pavilion has twelve pillars. Pavilions should be triangular, semi#circular or rectangular. The !ings of the !ali era and their dynasties are next described.

Donations There are different methods of donating alms. Bne of the most sacred is !nown as tulapurusha. ;n this, a pair of scales is used. The person who is donating the alms ascends on one side of the scales and gold is placed on the other side until the scales are exactly balanced. This is the amount of gold that has to be donated if punya is to be ac*uired. A second sort of donation is !nown as hiranyagarbha. ;n this , a pot full of gold is donated. ;n a third form of donation a model of the universe brahmanda" is fashioned out of gold and donated. This form of donation is therefore !nown as brahmanda. The fourth form of donation, !nown as !alpadapaC ;n this, a tree is made out of gold and donated. The fifth form of donation is !nown as gosahasra and involves the donation of a thousand cows. The sixth form of donation is !nown as !amadhenu. The object of donation in this case is a cow and calf, both made out of gold. The seventh form of donation is similar and is !nown as hiranyashva. A horse made out of gold is donated. The eighth form of donation is called ashvaratha. A horse ashva" and four chariots ratha" have to be donated and both have to be made out of gold. 'emahastiratha is the ninth form of donation. The objects or donation in this case are an elephant and a chariot made out of gold. The tenth form of donation is !nown as panchalngala!a. ;n this case, ten ploughs are donated. -ive of them have to be made of wood and the remaining five have to be made of gold. The eleven form of donation is dhara. ;n this case, a golden model of the earth is donated. The twelfth form of donation is !nown as vishvacha!ra. The object that is donated is again a model made out of gold. The model is that of the universe in the shape of a wheel. The thirteenth form of donation is maha!alapala!a. Ten creepers made out

of god are donated. The fourteenth form of donation is saptasagara. Pits are made in the ground, there being seven of them. Fach pit stands for one of the seven oceans. ;n the first pit is put salt, in the second mil!, in the third clarified butter, in the fourth molasses, in the fifth curds, in the sixth sugar and in the seventh holy water. An image of a god or goddess is then placed in each pit# ,rahma in the first, %ishnu in the second, &hiva in the third, &urya in the fourth, :ama in the fifth. Ga!shmi in the sixth and Parvati in the seventh. The images must be made out of gold. The pits are then filed to the brim with jewels and the entire contents donated. The fifteenth form of donation is called ratnadhenu. ;n this case, a cow made out of gold is donated. The nose, the eyes, the brows and various other parts of the cow should be made out of jewels. The sixteen form of donation is called mahabhutaghata. A pot is made out of gold, filled with jewels and donated. These different forms of donation are superior to all other forms of donation, and bring undying punya. $omaharshana completed his recital of the Matsya Purana by offering respects to the audience. A person who reads even one chapter of the text goes to heaven and all his sins are forgiven. The sages than!ed $omaharshana and departed.