CHAPTER – 78
Markandeya said: – Thereupon having assembled together the celestials and the Rishis began to hymn the glories of the sun, worshipped of the three worlds in the following words.
(1)
The Celestials said: – Salutation unto thee who art in the form of Rik, Saman, Yayur, salutation unto thee, who art the refuge of all and dost light all. (2) Salutation unto thee who art the only stay of knowledge, identical with pure effulgence, who art pure, whose soul is purified and who hast not the tinge of the quality of ignorance. (3) Salutation unto thee who art the greatest and the most excellent of all, the great soul and whose manifestation is the whole universe and whose form is Atman. (4) Salutation unto thee, the primary cause of all, the stay of all who have their intellects illumined by knowledge, who art identical with the light and the soul that manifests itself. (5) Salutation unto thee who art Bhaskara and who dost make the day; salutation unto thee who art the instrument of the making of the night, eve and moon-light. (6) O lord, thou art all this (universe); by thy motion forward and backward thou art sustaining the whole universe, mobile and immobile. (7) Touched by thy rays all this becomes purified; touched by thy rays even the water becomes purified. (8) As long as this universe is not connected with thy rays so long the performance, of Homa, charities and other ceremonies, does not lead to the well-being (of the performers). (9) From thy one limb has emanated the Rik, the Saman from the other and Yayur from the third. (10) O lord of the universe, thou art identical with Rik, Yayur and Saman and therefore, O lord, thou art identical with three. (11) Thou are the subtle and gross form of Brahman; thou art with form and without it; thou dost exist both in thy gross and subtle forms. (12) Thou art identical with Nimesha, Kashtha and other (divisions of time) as well as with Kala the destroyer of all. Be thou pleased of thy own accord and make an end of thy own effulgence. (13)
Markandeya said: – Having been thus eulogised by the deities and the saints the undecaying bundle of effulgence (the Sun) renounced his own lustre. (14) The earth was engendered by that portion of his effulgence which was identical with Rik – the etherial region was created by what was identical with Yayur and heaven by what was identical with Saman. (15) The Divine Architect, made with those fifteen divisions of his effulgence that had been exhausted, the trident of Siva, the discus of Vishnu, the dreadful maces of Vasus, Sankara and the fire god, the conveyance of the god of riches and other shining weapons of Yakshas, Vidyadharas and other celestials. (16-18) Thenceforward the Divine Sun bears only the sixteenth portion of his effulgence, which was thus distributed into fifteen divisions by the celestial Architect Viswakarman. (19) Thereupon, having assumed the guise of a horse the Sun repaired to the province of Uttarakuru and espied Sajna in the form of a mare. (20) Seeing him thus approach and taking him in fear to be another person, she went in front of him. (21) Then united with each other, they smelt each other’s nose; then on the seminal fluid being discharged there came out of the two nostrils Aswinis and Revanta seated on horseback with swords, daggers, armour, arrows and quiver. (22-23) Thereupon the Sun displayed his own matchless form. Beholding this form Sajna assumed her own and was delighted. (24) Then the Sun, the stealer of water, brought her own loving wife Sajna, who had assumed her own form, to his house. (25) Then was born his first son the Manu Vaivaswata; his second son Yama, on account of the imprecation of his mother, became of virtuous looks. (26) His father brought about an end of his imprecation saying, – “The worms, taking the flesh of his feet, shall fall down on the earth.” (27) Because he was of virtuous looks and impartial both towards his friends and enemies his father appointed him in the office of the Regent of the Dead. (28) Yamuna became the tributary of Kalindi, the two Aswinis were appointed by their divine father as the physicians and Revanta became the king of Guhyakas. Hear now, from me, of the mandate issued by the illusory Sajna towards her sons. (29-30) The first of the first born sons of illusory Sajna was like Manu. This son of the Sun obtained the appellation of Savarniki. (31) He will become Manu in that Manwantara when Bali will attain to the dignity of Manu. Sani was appointed one of the planets by his father. (32) Kuru, the king of men, was begotten on her third daughter by name Tapati by Samvarana. (32) I shall now relate to thee the seventh Manwantara of that Manu Vaivaswata, the king of the period, the Rishis, Indra and his sons. (34)