{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp039.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp039.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp039.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nVish\u0144u as Brahm\u00e1 creates the world. General characteristics of creation. Brahm\u00e1 meditates, and gives origin to, immovable things, animals, gods, men. Specific creation of nine kinds; Mahat, Tanm\u00e1tra, Aindr\u00edya, inanimate objects, animals, gods, men, Anugraha, and Kaum\u00e1ra. More particular account of creation. Origin of different orders of beings from Brahm\u00e1's body under different conditions; and of the Vedas from his mouths. All things created again as they existed in a former Kalpa.\nMAITREYA.--Now unfold to me, Brahman, how this deity created the gods, sages, progenitors, demons, men, animals, trees, and the rest, that abide on earth, in heaven, or in the waters: how Brahm\u00e1 at creation made the world with the qualities, the characteristics, and the forms of things 1.\nPAR\u00c1\u015aARA.--I will explain to you, Maitreya, listen attentively, how this deity, the lord of all, created the gods and other beings.\nWhilst he (Brahm\u00e1) formerly, in the beginning of the Kalpas, was. meditating on creation, there appeared a creation beginning with ignorance, and consisting of darkness. From that great being appeared fivefold Ignorance, consisting of obscurity, illusion, extreme illusion, gloom, utter darkness 2. The creation of the creator thus plunged in\nabstraction, was the fivefold (immovable) world, without intellect or reflection, void of perception or sensation, incapable of feeling, and destitute of motion 3. Since immovable things were first created, this is called the first creation. Brahm\u00e1, beholding that it was defective, designed another; and whilst he thus meditated, the animal creation was manifested, to the products of which the term Tiryaksrotas is applied, from their nutriment following a winding course 4. These were called beasts, &c., and their characteristic was the quality of darkness, they being destitute of knowledge, uncontrolled in their conduct, and mistaking error for wisdom; being formed of egotism and self-esteem, labouring under the twenty-eight kinds of imperfection 5, manifesting inward sensations, and associating with each other (according to their kinds).\nBeholding this creation also imperfect, Brahm\u00e1 again meditated, and a third creation appeared, abounding with the quality of goodness, termed \u00darddhasrotas 6. The beings thus produced in the \u00darddhasrotas creation were endowed with pleasure and enjoyment, unencumbered internally or externally, and luminous within and without. This, termed the creation of immortals, was the third performance of Brahm\u00e1, who, although well pleased with it, still found it incompetent to fulfil his end. Continuing therefore his meditations, there sprang, in consequence of his infallible purpose, the creation termed Arv\u00e1ksrotas, from indiscrete nature. The products of this are termed Arv\u00e1ksrotasas 7, from the downward current (of their nutriment). They abound with the light of knowledge, but the qualities of darkness and of foulness predominate. Hence they are afflicted by evil, and are repeatedly impelled to action. They have knowledge both externally and internally, and are the instruments (of accomplishing the object of creation, the liberation of soul). These creatures were mankind.\nI have thus explained to you, excellent Muni, six 8 creations. The first creation was that of Mahat or Intellect, which is also called the creation of Brahm\u00e1 9. The second was that of the rudimental principles (Tanm\u00e1tras), thence termed the elemental creation (Bh\u00fata serga). The third was the modified form of egotism, termed the organic creation, or creation of the senses (Aindr\u00edyaka). These three were the Pr\u00e1krita creations, the developements of indiscrete nature, preceded by the indiscrete\nprinciple 10. The fourth or fundamental creation (of perceptible things) was that of inanimate bodies. The fifth, the Tairyag yonya creation, was that of animals. The sixth was the \u00darddhasrotas creation, or that of the divinities. The creation of the Arv\u00e1ksrotas beings was the seventh, and was that of man. There is an eighth creation, termed Anugraha, which possesses both the qualities of goodness and darkness 11. Of these creations, five are secondary, and three are primary 12. But there is a ninth,\nthe Kaum\u00e1ra creation, which is both primary and secondary 13. These are the nine creations of the great progenitor of all, and, both as primary\nand secondary, are the radical causes of the world, proceeding from the sovereign creator. What else dost thou desire to hear?\nMAITREYA. Thou hast briefly related to me, Muni, the creation of the gods and other beings: I am desirous, chief of sages, to hear from thee a more ample account of their creation.\nPAR\u00c1\u015aARA.--Created beings, although they are destroyed (in their individual forms) at the periods of dissolution, yet, being affected by the good or evil acts of former existence, they are never exempted from their consequences; and when Brahm\u00e1 creates the world anew, they are the progeny of his will, in the fourfold condition of gods, men, animals, or inanimate things. Brahm\u00e1 then, being desirous of creating the four orders of beings, termed gods, demons, progenitors, and men, collected his mind into itself 14. Whilst thus concentrated, the quality of darkness\npervaded his body; and thence the demons (the Asuras) were first born, issuing from his thigh. Brahm\u00e1 then abandoned that form which was, composed of the rudiment of darkness, and which, being deserted by him, became night. Continuing to create, but assuming a different. shape, he experienced pleasure; and thence from his mouth proceeded the gods, endowed with the quality of goodness. The form abandoned by him, became day, in which the good quality predominates; and hence by day the gods are most powerful, and by night the demons. He next adopted another person, in which the rudiment of goodness also prevailed; and thinking of himself, as the father of the world, the progenitors (the Pitris) were born from his side. The body, when he abandoned, it, became the Sandhy\u00e1 (or evening twilight), the interval between day and night. Brahm\u00e1 then assumed another person, pervaded by the quality of foulness; and from this, men, in whom foulness (or passion) predominates, were produced. Quickly abandoning that body, it became morning twilight, or the dawn. At the appearance of this light of day, men feel most vigour; while the progenitors are most powerful in the evening season. In this manner, Maitreya, Jyotsn\u00e1 (dawn), R\u00e1tri (night), Ahar (day), and Sandhy\u00e1 (evening), are the four bodies of Brahm\u00e1 invested by the three qualities 15.\nNext from Brahm\u00e1, in a form composed of the quality of foulness, was produced hunger, of whom anger was born: and the god put forth in darkness beings emaciate with hunger, of hideous aspects, and with long beards. Those beings hastened to the deity. Such of them as exclaimed, Oh preserve us! were thence called R\u00e1kshasas 16: others, who cried out, Let us eat, were denominated from that expression Yakshas 17. Beholding them so disgusting, the hairs of Brahm\u00e1 were shrivelled up, and first falling from his head, were again renewed upon it: from their falling they became serpents, called Sarpa from their creeping, and Ahi because they had deserted the head 18. The creator of the world, being incensed, then created fierce beings, who were denominated goblins, Bh\u00fatas, malignant fiends and eaters of flesh. The Gandharbas were next born, imbibing melody: drinking of the goddess of speech, they were born, and thence their appellation 19.\nThe divine Brahm\u00e1, influenced by their material energies, having created these beings, made others of his own will. Birds he formed from his vital vigour; sheep from his breast; goats from his mouth; kine from his belly and sides; and horses, elephants, Sarabhas, Gayals, deer, camels, mules, antelopes, and other animals, from his feet: whilst from the hairs of his body sprang herbs, roots, and fruits.\nBrahm\u00e1 having created, in the commencement of the Kalpa, various plants, employed them in sacrifices, in the beginning of the Tret\u00e1 age. Animals were distinguished into two classes, domestic (village) and wild (forest): the first class contained the cow, the goat, the hog, the sheep, the horse, the ass, the mule: the latter, all beasts of prey, and many animals with cloven hoofs, the elephant, and the monkey. The fifth order were the birds; the sixth, aquatic animals; and the seventh, reptiles and insects 20.\nFrom his eastern mouth Brahm\u00e1 then created the Gayatr\u00ed metre, the Rig veda, the collection of hymns termed Trivrit, the Rathantara portion of the S\u00e1ma veda, and the Agnisht\u0301oma sacrifice: from his southern mouth he created the Yajur veda, the Trisht\u0301ubh metre, the collection of hymns called Panchada\u015ba, the Vrihat S\u00e1ma, and the portion of the S\u00e1ma veda termed Uktha: from his western mouth he created the S\u00e1ma veda, the Jayati metre, the collection of hymns termed Saptada\u015ba, the portion of the S\u00e1ma called Vair\u00fapa, and the Atir\u00e1tra sacrifice: and from his northern mouth he created the Ekavinsa collection of hymns, the At\u0301harva veda, the \u00c1ptory\u00e1m\u00e1 rite, the Anusht\u0301ubh metre, and the Vair\u00e1ja portion of the S\u00e1ma veda 21.\nIn this manner all creatures, great or small, proceeded from his limbs. The great progenitor of the world having formed the gods, demons, and Pitris, created, in the commencement of the Kalpa, the Yakshas, Pis\u00e1chas (goblins), Gandharbas and the troops of Apsarasas the nymphs of heaven, Naras (centaurs, or beings with the limbs of horses and human\nbodies) and Kinnaras (beings with the heads of horses), R\u00e1kshasas, birds, beasts, deer, serpents, and all things permanent or transitory, movable or immovable. This did the divine Brahm\u00e1, the first creator and lord of all: and these things being created, discharged the same functions as they had fulfilled in a previous creation, whether malignant or benign, gentle or cruel, good or evil, true or false; and accordingly as they are actuated by such propensities will be their conduct.\nAnd the creator displayed infinite variety in the objects of sense, in the properties of living things, and in the forms of bodies: he determined in the beginning, by the authority of the Vedas, the names and forms and functions of all creatures, and of the gods; and the names and appropriate offices of the Rishis, as they also are read in the Vedas. In like manner as the products of the seasons designate in periodical revolution the return of the same season, so do the same circumstances indicate the recurrence of the same Yuga, or age; and thus, in the beginning of each Kalpa, does Brahm\u00e1 repeatedly create the world, possessing the power that is derived from the will to create, and assisted by the natural and essential faculty of the object to be created.\n34:1 The terms here employed are for qualities, Gunas; which, as we have already noticed, are those of goodness, foulness, and darkness. The characteristics, or Swabh\u00e1vas, are the inherent properties of the qualities, by which they act, as, soothing, terrific, or stupifying: and the forms, Swar\u00fapas, are the distinctions of biped, quadruped, brute, bird, fish, and the like.\n34:2 Or Tamas, Moha, Mah\u00e1moha, Tamisra, Andhatamisra; they are the five kinds of obstruction, viparyyaya, of soul's liberation, according to the S\u00e1nkhya: they are explained to be, 1. The belief of material substance being the same with spirit; 2. Notion of property or possession, and consequent attachment to objects, as children and the like, as being one's own; 3. Addiction to the enjoyments of sense; 4. Impatience or wrath; and 5. Fear of privation or death. They are called in the P\u00e1tanjala philosophy, the five afflictions, Kle\u015ba, but are similarly explained by Avidy\u00e1, 'ignorance;' Asmit\u00e1, 'selfishness,' literally 'I-am-ness;' R\u00e1ga 'love;' Dwesha, 'hatred;' and Abhinive\u015ba, 'dread of temporal suffering.' S\u00e1nkhya K\u00e1rik\u00e1, p. 148-150. This creation by Brahm\u00e1 p. 35 in the V\u00e1r\u00e1ha Kalpa begins in the same way, and in the same words, in most of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as. The Bh\u00e1gavata reverses the order of these five products, and gives them, Andhatamisra, Tamisra, Mah\u00e1moha, Moha, and Tamas; a variation obviously more immethodical than the usual reading of the text, and adopted, no doubt, merely for the sake of giving the passage an air of originality.\n35:3 This is not to be confounded with elementary creation, although the description would very well apply to that of crude nature, or Pradh\u00e1na; but, as will be seen presently, we have here to do with final productions, or the forms in which the previously created elements and faculties are more or less perfectly aggregated. The first class of these forms is here said to be immovable things; that is, the mineral and vegetable kingdoms; for the solid earth, with its mountains and rivers and seas, was already prepared for their reception. The 'fivefold' immovable creation is indeed, according to the comment, restricted to vegetables, five orders of which are enumerated, or, 1. trees; 2. shrubs; 3. climbing plants; 4. creepers; and 5. grasses.\n35:4 Tiryak, 'crooked;' and Srotas, 'a canal.'\n35:5 Twenty-eight kinds of Badhas, which in the S\u00e1nkhya system mean disabilities, as defects of the senses, blindness, deafness, &c.; and defects of intellect, discontent, ignorance, and the like. S. K\u00e1rik\u00e1, p. 148, 151. In place of Badha, however, the more usual reading, as in the Bh\u00e1gavata, V\u00e1r\u00e1ha, and M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya Pur\u00e1\u0144as, is Vidha, 'kind,' 'sort,' as ###, implying twenty-eight sorts of animals. These are thus specified in the Bh\u00e1gavata, III. 10: Six kinds have single hoofs, nine have double or cloven hoofs, and thirteen have five claws or nails instead of hoofs. The first are the horse, the mule, the ass, the yak, the sarabha, and the gaura, or white deer. The second are the cow, the goat, the buffalo, the hog, the gayal, the black deer, the antelope, the camel, and the sheep. The last are the dog, shacal, wolf, tiger, cat, hare, porcupine, lion, monkey, elephant, tortoise, lizard, and alligator.\n36:6 \u00darddha, 'above,' and Srotas, as before; their nourishment being derived from the exterior, not from the interior of the body: according to the commentator; ### as a text of the Vedas has it; 'Through satiety derived from even beholding ambrosia.'\n36:7 Arv\u00e1k, 'downwards,' and Srotas, 'canal.'\n36:8 This reckoning is not very easily reconciled with the creations described; for, as presently enumerated, the stages of creation are seven. The commentator, however, considers the \u00darddhasrotas creation, or that of the superhuman beings, to be the same with that of the Indriyas, or senses over which they preside; by which the number is reduced to six.\n36:9 This creation being the work of the supreme spirit, ### according to the commentator; or it might have been understood to mean, that Brahm\u00e1 was then created, being, as we have seen, identified with Mahat, 'active intelligence,' or the operating will of the Supreme. See p. 15, note 23.\n37:10 The text is, ### which is, as rendered in the text, 'creation preceded by, or beginning with Buddhi, intelligence.' The rules of euphony would however admit of a mute negative being inserted, or 'preceded by ignorance;' that is, by the chief principle, crude nature or Pradh\u00e1na, which is one with ignorance: but this seems to depend on notions of a later date, and more partial adoption, than those generally prevailing in our authority; and the first reading therefore has been preferred. It is also to be observed, that the first unintellectual creation was that of immovable objects (as in p. 35), the original of which is, ### and all ambiguity of construction is avoided. The reading is also established by the text of the Linga Pur\u00e1\u0144a, which enumerates the different series of creation in the words of the Vish\u0144u, except in this passage, which is there transposed, with a slight variation of the reading. Instead of ### it is ### 'The first creation was that of Mahat: Intellect being the first in manifestation.' The reading of the V\u00e1yu P. is still more tautological, but confirms that here preferred: See also n. 12.\n37:11 The Anugraha creation, of which no notice has been found in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, seems to have been borrowed from the S\u00e1nkhya philosophy. It is more particularly described in the Padma, M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya, Linga, and Matsya Pur\u00e1\u0144as; as, 'The fifth is the Anugraha creation, which is subdivided into four kinds; by obstruction, disability, perfectness, and acquiescence.' This is the Pratyaya sarga, or intellectual creation, of the S\u00e1nkhyas (S. K\u00e1rik\u00e1, v. 46. p.146); the creation of which we have a notion, or to which we give assent (Anugraha), in contradistinction to organic creation, or that existence of which we have sensible perception. In its specific subdivisions it is the notion of certain inseparable properties in the four different orders of beings: obstruction or stolidity in inanimate things; inability or imperfection in animals; perfectibility in man; and acquiescence or tranquil enjoyment in gods. So also the V\u00e1yu P.: ###\n37:12 Or Vaikrita, derived mediately from the first principle, through its Vikritis, 'productions' or 'developements;' and Pr\u00e1krita, derived more immediately from the chief principle itself. Mahat and the two forms of Ahank\u00e1ra, or the rudimental elements and the senses, constitute the latter class; inanimate beings, &c. compose the former: or the latter are considered as the work of p. 38 Brahm\u00e1, whilst the three first are evolved from Pradh\u00e1na. So the V\u00e1yu: 'The three creations beginning with Intelligence are elemental; but the six creations which proceed from the series of which Intellect is the first are the work of Brahm\u00e1'.\n38:13 We must have recourse here also to other Pur\u00e1\u0144as, for the elucidation of this term. The Kaum\u00e1ra creation is the creation of Rudra or N\u00edlalohita, a form of \u015aiva, by Brahm\u00e1, which is subsequently described in our text, and of certain other mind-born sons of Brahm\u00e1, of whose birth the Vish\u0144u P. gives no further account: they are elsewhere termed Sanatkum\u00e1ra, Sananda, Sanaka, and San\u00e1tana, with sometimes a fifth, Ribhu, added. These, declining to create progeny, remained, as the name of the first implies, ever boys, kum\u00e1ras; that is, ever pure and innocent; whence their creation is called the Kaum\u00e1ra. Thus the V\u00e1yu: ###. And the Linga has, 'Being ever as he was born, he is here called a youth; and hence his name is well known as Sanatkum\u00e1ra.' This authority makes Sanatkum\u00e1ra and Ribhu the two first born of all, whilst the text of the Hari Van\u015ba limits the primogeniture to Sanatkum\u00e1ra. In another place, however, it enumerates apparently six, or the above four with Sana and either. Ribhu or another San\u00e1tana; for the passage is corrupt. The French translation ascribes a share in creation to Sanatkum\u00e1ra: 'Les sept Prajapatis, Roudra, Scanda, et Sanatkaum\u00e1ra, se mirent a produire les etres repandant partout l\u2019inepuisable energie de dieu.' The original is, Sankshipya is not 'repandant,' but 'restraining;' and Tisht\u0301hatah being in the dual number, relates of course to only two of the series. The correct rendering is, 'These seven (Praj\u00e1patis) created progeny, and so did Rudra; but Skanda and Sanatkum\u00e1ra, restraining their power, abstained (from creation).' So the commentator: ###. These sages, however, live as long as Brahm\u00e1, and they are only created by him in the first Kalpa, although their generation is very commonly, but inconsistently, introduced in the V\u00e1r\u00e1ha or P\u00e1dma Kalpas. This creation, says the text, is both primary (Pr\u00e1krita) and secondary (Vaikrita). It is the latter, according to the commentator, as regards the origin of these saints from Brahm\u00e1: it is the former as affects Rudra, who, though proceeding from Brahm\u00e1, in a certain form was in essence equally an immediate production of the first principle. These notions, the birth of Rudra and the saints, seem to have been borrowed from the Saivas, and to have been awkwardly engrafted upon the Vaish\u0144ava system. Sanatkum\u00e1ra and his brethren are always described in the Saiva Pur\u00e1\u0144as as Yogis: as the K\u00farma, after enumerating them, adds, 'These five, oh Brahmans, were Yogis, p. 39 who acquired entire exemption from passion:' and the Hari Van\u015ba, although rather Vaish\u0144ava than Saiva, observes, that the Yogis celebrate these six, along with Kapila, in Yoga works. The idea seems to have been amplified also in the Saiva works; for the Linga P. describes the repeated birth of \u015aiva, or V\u00e1madeva, as a Kum\u00e1ra, or boy, from Brahm\u00e1, in each Kalpa, who again becomes four. Thus in the twenty-ninth Kalpa Swetalohita is the Kum\u00e1ra, and he becomes Sananda, Nandana, Viswananda, Upanandana; all of a white complexion: in the thirtieth the Kum\u00e1ra becomes Virajas, Viv\u00e1hu, Visoka, V\u00edswabh\u00e1vana; all of a red colour: in the thirty-first he becomes four youths of a yellow colour: and in the thirty-second the four Kum\u00e1ras were black. All these are, no doubt, comparatively recent additions to the original notion of the birth of Rudra and the Kum\u00e1ras; itself obviously a sectarial innovation upon the primitive doctrine of the birth of the Praj\u00e1patis, or will-born sons of Brahm\u00e1.\n39:14 These reiterated, and not always very congruous accounts of the creation are explained by the Pur\u00e1\u0144as as referring to different Kalpas, or renovations of the world, and therefore involving no incompatibility. A better reason for their appearance is the probability that they have been borrowed from different original authorities. The account that follows is evidently modified by the Yogi Saivas, by its general mysticism, and by the expressions with which it begins: 'Collecting his mind into itself,' according to the comment, is the performance of the Yoga (Y\u00fayuje). The term Ambh\u00e1nsi, lit. 'waters,' for the four orders of beings, gods, demons, men, and Pitris, is also a peculiar, and probably mystic term. The commentator says it occurs in the Vedas as a synonyme of gods. The V\u00e1yu Pur\u00e1\u0144a derives it from 'to shine,' p. 40 because the different orders of beings shine or flourish severally by moonlight, night, day, and twilight: &c.\n40:15 This account is given in several other Pur\u00e1\u0144as: in the K\u00farma with more simplicity; in the Padma, Linga, and V\u00e1yu with more detail. The Bh\u00e1gavata, as usual, amplifies still more copiously, and mixes up much absurdity with the account. Thus the person of Sandhy\u00e1, 'evening twilight,' is thus described: \"She appeared with eyes rolling with passion, whilst her lotus-like feet sounded with tinkling ornaments: a muslin vest depended from her waist, secured by a golden zone: her breasts were protuberant, and close together; her nose was elegant; her tongue beautiful; her face was bright with smiles, and she modestly concealed it with the skirts of her robe; whilst the dark curls clustered round her brow.\" The Asuras address her, and win her to become their bride. To the four forms of our text, the same work adds, Tandr\u00ed, 'sloth;' Jrimbhik\u00e1, 'yawning;' Nidr\u00e1, 'sleep;' Unm\u00e1da, 'insanity;' Antarddh\u00e1na, 'disappearance;' Pratibimba, 'reflexion;' which become the property of Pis\u00e1chas, Kinnaras, Bh\u00fatas, Gandherbas, Vidy\u00e1dharas, S\u00e1dhyas, Pitris, and Menus. The notions of night, day, twilight, and moonlight being derived from Brahm\u00e1, seem to have originated with the Vedas. Thus the commentator on the Bh\u00e1gavata p. 41 observes, 'That which was his body, and was left, was darkness: this is the \u015aruti.' All the authorities place night before day, and the Asuras or Titans before the gods, in the order of appearance; as did Hesiod and other ancient theogonists.\n41:16 From Raksha, 'to preserve'\n41:17 From Yaksha, 'to eat'\n41:18 From Srip, serpo, 'to creep,' and from H\u00e1, 'to abandon.'\n41:19 G\u00e1m dhayantah, 'drinking speech.'\n41:20 This and the preceding enumeration p. 42 of the origin of vegetables and animals occurs in several Pur\u00e1\u0144as, precisely in the same words. The Linga adds a specification of the Aranya, or wild animals, which are said to be the buffalo, gayal, bear, monkey, sarabha, wolf, and lion.\n42:21 This specification of the parts of the Vedas that proceed from Brahm\u00e1 occurs, in the same words, in the V\u00e1yu, Linga, K\u00farma, Padma, and M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya Pur\u00e1\u0144as. The Bh\u00e1gavata offers some important varieties: \"From his eastern and other mouths he created the Rich, Yajush, S\u00e1ma, and Atharvan vedas; the \u015aastra, or 'the unuttered incantation;' Ijy\u00e1, 'oblation;' Stuti and Stoma, 'prayers' and 'hymns;' and Pr\u00e1ya\u015bchitta, 'expiation' or 'sacred philosophy' (Br\u00e1hma): also the Vedas of medicine, arms, music, and mechanics; and the Itih\u00e1sas and Pur\u00e1\u0144as, which are a fifth Veda: also the portions of the Vedas called Sorasi, Uktha, Pur\u00edshi, 'Agnisht\u0301ut, \u00c1ptory\u00e1m\u00e1, Atir\u00e1tra, V\u00e1japeya, Gosava; the four parts of virtue, purity, liberality, piety, and truth; the orders of life, and their institutes and different religious rites and professions; and the sciences of logic, ethics, and polity. The mystic words and monosyllable proceeded from his heart; the metre Ushnih from the hairs of his body; Gayatr\u00ed from his skin; Trisht\u0301ubh from his flesh; Anusht\u0301ubh from his tendons; Jagati from his bones; Pankti from his marrow; Vrihati from his breath. The consonants were his life; the vowels his body; the sibilants his senses; the semivowels his vigour.\" This mysticism, although perhaps expanded and amplified by the Paur\u00e1\u0144ics, appears to originate with the Vedas: as in the text, 'The metre was of the tendons.' The different portions of the Vedas specified in the text are yet, for the most part, uninvestigated.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Book I: Chapter V","type":"page"}