Daksha’s Descendants
Daksha married Panchanjani. (The more usual name, as given in the other Puranas, is Asikli or Prasuti. Prasuti is said to have been the daughter of Svayhambhuva Manu and Shatarupa. Asikli was the daughter of Virana and is also referred to as Vairini.)
Daksha and Panchajani had one thousand sons. These were known as the Haryakshas (alternatively, Haryashvas). Daksha asked his sons to create more living beings.
But the sage Narada came and told the Haryakshas, “You can’t possibly create living beings unless you know where they are going to live. Have you explored the universe that your creations are going to populate? Why don’t you start out on a voyage of discovery?”
The Haryakshas did this and have never been heard of since. They did not return.
Daksha and Panchajani now had another thousand sons. These were name the Shavalas. (The more usual name is the Shavalshvas.) Narada asked the Shavalas also to explore the universe and they too disappeared.
Sixty daughters were next born to Daksha and Panchajani. (The accounts of the Puranas are not consistent about the number of Daksha’s daughters. Sometimes the number is given as sixty, sometimes as fifty and sometimes as twenty-four.) Ten of these daughers were married to the god Dharma, twenty-seven were married to the moon-god Chandra, and thirteen were married to the sage Kashyapa. The remaining daughters were married to various other sages.
The thirteen daughters who were married to Kashyapa were named Aditi, Diti, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ira, Kadru, Vishva and Muni, (The names of Kashyapa’s wives, particularly the minor ones, sometimes vary from Purana to Purana.)
Aditi’s sons were known as the adityas. There were twelve of them and they were named Indra, Dhata, Bhaga, Tvashta, Mitra, Varuna, Yama, Vivasvana, Savita, Pusha, Amshumana and Vishnu. These were the gods. (Yama is more commonly regarded as having been the son of the sun-god and his wife Samjna.)
Diti’s sons were the daityas (demons). There were two of them, named Hiranyakshipu and Hiranyaksha. Their sons also came to be known as the daityas. Hiranyaksha’s sons were Uluka. Shakuni, Bhutasantapana and Mahanabha. (More commonly, Hiranyaksha’s son is said to have been Andhaka. In some accounts, Hiranyaksha did not have a son and Andhaka was adopted as a son.) Hiranyakshipu’s sons were Prahlada, Anuhlada, Samhlada and Hlada. Prahlada’s son was Virochana, Virochana’s son was Vali, and Vali’s son was Vanasura.
Danu had a hundred sons. These and their descendants were known as the danavas (demons). Chief among the hundred sons was Viprachitti. 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 donkeys.
Vinata had two sons, Aruna and Garuda. Aruna’s sons were Sampati and Jatayu. (You may be familiar with these names fromt he Ramayana.)
Both Surasa and Kadru gave birth to snakes (nagas or sarpas).
Krodhavasha was the mother of rakshasas (demons); Surabhi of cows and buffaloes; Muni of apsaras (dancers of heaven); Arishta aof gandharvas (singers of heaven); Ira of trees and herbs; and Vishva of yakashas (demi-gods).
The Maruts
Although the gods and the demons were cousins, they did not like each other and fought amongst themselves all the time. Many daityas were killed by Vishnu and the other gods.
Diti was disconsolate to see her children suffer thus. She resolved that she would meditate so as to obtain a son who would be so powerful that he would kill Indra, the king of the gods. There was a tirtha (place of pigrimage) named Syamantapanchaka on the banks of the sacred river Sarasvati. Diti went there and started to pray to the sage Kashyapa. She lived on roots and fruits and meditated for a hundred years.
These prayers pleased Kashyapa. “Ask for a boon,” he said.
“Please grant me a son who will kill indra,” replied Diti.
“It shall be as you wish,” said Kashyapa. “But there are some conditions. You will have to live in this hermitage for a hundred years more. Throughout these hundred years you will bear the baby in your womb. But there are certain conditions of cleanliness that you must obeserved. You must not eat in the evening, nor must you sleep under a tree at night. Excercise is not permitted in any form. Do not sleep with your hair unbraided, or without having had a bath. If you can observed these rules for a hundred years, you will have the son you wish for.”Kashyapa went away and Diti began to observe the rites that the sage had prescribed. But Indra had got to know 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. He hung around Diti’s hermitage, pretending to serve his aunt. He brought her firewood and fruit and served her in other ways. But in reality, he was merely waiting for an opportunity. He was waiting for the moment when Diti would fail to observed the norms of cleaniness that had been laid down for her.
Ninety-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. (In some other Puranas,it is stated that ninety years had passed uneventfully.)
Diti was tired on one particular occasion. Since the period of her ordeal was soon to end, she had also become somewhat careless. She fell asleep without washing her hair. What was worse, she went to sleep without having braided her hair. This was an act of gross uncleanliness.
Indra seized his chance. Since Diti had committed an unclean act, her defences had been lowered. Indra entered Diti’s womb in a trice. Indra has a wonderful weapon named vajra. (This is sometimes with a club.) With the vajra, Indra sliced the baby in Diti’s womb into seven parts. These parts started to cry.
“Ma ruda,” said Indra. “Don’t cry.”
But the parts continued to cry. Indra therefore chopped up each of the parts into seven more sections, so that there were forty-nine parts in all.
Since Diti had failed to observe the prescribed rites, these forty-nine sections were no longer a threat to Indra. When they were born, they came to be known as the maruts from the words Indra had used in addressing them. They were elevated to the status of gods and became Indra’s friends and constant companions.
The Manvantaras
Each manvantara is an era and is ruled over by a Manu. One of Brahma’s days is known as a kalpa and there are fourteen manvantaras in every kalpa. At the end of every kalpa, the universe is destroyed and has to be created afresh.
In the present kalpa, 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 Indra, change from one manvantara to another. The fourteen eras of the present kalpa are as follows.
(1) The first Manu was Svayambhuva. The gods then were the yamas.
(2) Svarochisha was the second Manu. The gods were the tushitas and the names of the seven great sages were Dattoli, Chyavana, Stambha, Prana, Kashyapa, Ourva and Brihaspati.
(3) The third Manu was Outtama. The gods were named the bhavanas and Koukurundi, Dalbhya, Shankha, Pravahana, Shiva, Sita and Sasmita were the saptarshis.
(4) Tamas was the fourth Manu. The seven great sages were Kavi, Prithu, Agni, Akapi, Kapi, Jalpa and Dhimana and the gods were known as the sadhyas.
(5) The fifth manvantara was ruled over by a Manu named Raivata. The gods were the abhutarajas and the seven great sages were
Devavahu, Suvahu, Parjanya, Somapa, Munti, Hiranyaroma and Saptashva.
(6) Chakshusha was the sixth Manu. The gods were known as the lekhas and the seven great sages were Bhrigu, Sudhama, Viraja, Sahishnu, Nada, Vivasvana, and Atinama.
(7) The seventh manvantara is the one that is now current and the name of the Manu is Vaivasvata. The saptarshis are Atri, Vashishtha, Kashyapa, Goutama, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra and Jamadagni. The gods are the sadhyas, the vishvadevas, the maruts, the vasus, the two ashvinis and the adityas.
(8) The eighth Manu will be Savarni and the seven great sages of this era will be Ashvatthama, Sharadvana, Koushika, Galava, Shatananda, Kashyapa and Rama.
(9) The ninth Manu wil be Rouchya.
(10) Bhoutya will be the tenth Manu.
(11) The eleventh Manu will be named Merusavarni.
(12) Rita will be the twelfth Manu.
(13) Ritadhama will be the thirteenth Manu.
(14) The fourteenth and final Manu will be named Vishvakasena.
(The account is incomplete in the sense that the names of gods and the seven great sages of each era are not given. And the name of Indra is not given for even a single manvantara. These names are given in the other Puranas, but the names given generally differ from one text to another. In some cases, the names of the manvantaras, particularly the future ones, also differ.)
