Puranic encyclopaedia
by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222
This page describes the Story of Loka included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).
Story of Loka
Origin of Loka.
There are several views in the ʳܰṇa regarding the origin of Loka or the world (Universe).
(i) In the beginning of the universe Ѳ屹ṣṇ alone stood as the Eternal, unseen, unheard, unknown entity. Then there was neither sky nor day nor night. When the time of creation came ʰṛt entered վṣṇ as ʳܰṣa creating emotion. From emotion arose Mahat or the Great Principle and from Mahat arose cosmic egoism (ṅk). ṅk divided itself into ղ첹, Taijasa and 峾. From ṅk arose Āś with the quality of sound and from Āś came the air having the quality of touch and from air came fire having the quality of colour and from fire came water having the quality of taste and from water came earth with the quality of smell. All these were born of tāmasic egoism. From taijasic egoism came into being the organs of sense. From the ղ첹 egoism came the ten ղ첹 devas and the eleventh organ of sense, the mind. After that Ѳ屹ṣṇ discharged his virility into water and that virility is life. (Chapter 17, Agni ʳܰṇa).
(ii) Mahaviṣṇu with a view to creating many different kinds of living things created water first and threw his whole energy into it. That energy grew into a golden mass of an egg and was born from that egg. Ѳ屹ṣṇ broke that egg into two, making one half heaven and the other earth. Between the two halves he created the sky. The earth was floating on the waters and he fixed it by anchoring it at ten sides. Then he created ʰ貹پ, , Manas, Vāk, 峾, Krodha and Rati. Then he created thunder, lightning, clouds, rainbows and birds. Then for yajñasiddhi he created from his face ṻ岹, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda. He did sacrifices with them. From his hands he created the different ūٲ峾 and Բٰܳ. He created Rudra out of Krodha. From his mind were born Ѳī, Atri, ṅg, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and ղṣṭ. He made these seven ṣi. These seven ṣi and Rudra began to create the . Then ʰ貹پ divided his body into two. One half of it became man and the other woman. started creation through that woman. (Chapter 18; Agni ʳܰṇa).
(iii) In the beginning Ѳ屹ṣṇ in the form of a child lay on a leaf of the Banyan tree. Lying there the Lord began to think like this, "Who am I? Who created me? Why was I created? What should I do here?" At once from the sky came a voice which said:�
"� khalvidamevāha� nāṅyadasti sanātanam /" (All these am I. There is nothing eternal except me). The Lord was surprised by the voice and there appeared before him Ѳī with four hands bearing the Śṅk, Cakra, Ҳ and Padma one in each hand. She wore divine garments and ornaments and was accompanied by Prosperity as her maid. She was surrounded by such forces as Rati ūپ, Buddhi, Mati, īپ, ṛt, ٳṛt, Ś, ѱ, , , ṣu, , ٲ, Gati, ճṣṭ, ʳṣṭ, ṣa, , Jṛmbhā and Tandrī. ٱī then addressed Ѳ屹ṣṇ thus: "Why wonder? You have always come into being whenever creation was started by the greatness of great powers. The Supreme Being is without quality of any kind. We are all with quality. You have predominance of ٳٱṇa. From your navel will arise who will be dominated by Rajoguṇa and from the centre of the forehead of will be born Rudra with Tamoguṇa predominant in him. by the power of his penance will acquire the energy to create and he will then create the world. You will be the protector of this world which will in the end be destroyed by Rudra. I am the sāttvic power to help you in your work and I am always at your service."
Accordingly and Rudra were born and started his creation. (1st Skandha, ٱī 岵ٲ).
(iv) In times of old during the great deluge everything in this universe became extinct. It went on like that for some time and then the five elements and were born. was born in a lotus. decided there should be mud beneath the lotus. He went down through the stem of the lotus and travelled for a thousand years and yet did not find the earth. He came back and sitting inside the lotus started doing penance. After a thousand years Madhu-ṭa rushed to attack (See under ṭa).
Fearing them went under water again. As he went deep down he saw a great man sleeping there. It was Ѳ屹ṣṇ and then only he knew he was sitting on the lotus originating from the navel of Ѳ屹ṣṇ. Ѳ屹ṣṇ killed Madhu ṭa and gave permission to start creation and started his work of creation.
(v) Before the origin of the Universe the shapeless qualityless ʲśپ permeated everything. From it there were born three powers: ñԲśپ, śپ and Arthaśakti. The power of ٳٱṇa was ñԲśپ, the power of Rajoguṇa was śپ and the power of Tamoguṇa was Arthaśakti. From the divine power of 峾 came the five basic things, sound, colour, touch, taste and smell. The quality of the sky was sound, the quality of air was touch, the quality of fire was colour, the quality of water was taste and the quality of earth was smell.
Rajoguṇa was born of śپ. The five organs of senses, ear, eye, nose, tongue and skin and the five organs of work, hand, leg, speech, organ of excretion and the organ of sex and the five breaths, ʰṇa, Բ, ղԲ, Բ and Բ are the offsprings of Ჹ. These are the forms of śپ. These are controlled by the favourable activity of Cicchakti. The five gods controlling the sense-organs like , ūⲹ, śī and Aśvinīdevas and the four gods controlling intelligence, conscience etc. like Candra, , Rudra, and ṣeٰñ and the mind are ten Tattvas (Principles) born of ٳٱ첹 empowered with ñԲśپ.
All the Tattvas were made into five basic elements through the process of Pañcīkaraṇa and the ṇḍa originated from it.
The constitution of ṇḍa.
The ṇḍa is made up of seven ś (coverings). The one in the extreme interior is very small. The second ś originates from the centre of the first ś. The third ś also has its origin from the first one. Each of them envelops the one before it. The seventh ś thus originating from the first ś and bursting forth through the other six ś spreads out for millions of miles around. If you cut the ṇḍa longitudinally the one in the extreme interior is the earth. Then come Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka in succession. The worlds in the lower half are called , 鲹ٲ, Ѳٲ, ղٲ Sutala, Vitala and Atala. From Satyaloka to Atala there are fourteen lokas. The ṇḍa consists of the ūⲹ, Candra, Stars, Śܰ, Budha, ṅg첹, ṛh貹پ, ŚԾ, ٲṣi, Dhruva, Śṃśu and , called the Jyotiścakra. Besides these there are twentyeight hells also. (վṣṇ ʳܰṇa, ṃs 1).
is ten thousand yojanas below ūⲹ. Ten thousand yojanas below is the loka of Siddhavidyādharas. Below that up to the path of the clouds is the loka of the demons, genū and manes. Hundred yojanas below this is the Bhūloka (earth). Ten thousand yojanas below the earth and as many yojanas below the world above each are Atala, Vitala Sutala, ղٲ, Ѳٲ 鲹ٲ and . (5th Skandha, 岵ٲ).
Origin of life.
originated from the navel of Ѳ屹ṣṇ. started creation after obtaining permission from վṣṇ. In the beginning created from the mind Ѳī, ṅg, Atri, ղṣṭ, Pulaha, Kratu, and Pulastya. They are therefore called the Mānasaputras of . (Manas = mind, Putra, = son). From his wrath came Rudra, from his lap came 岹, from his right thumb ٲṣa, from his mind Sanaka and others and from his left thumb, īṇ�. ٲṣa married īṇ�.
ٲṣa got five thousand sons of īṇ�. They also got sons. When the population began to increase thus 岹 intervened and questioned the advisability of increasing the population before knowing the capacity of the earth. The sons of ٲṣa realised the sense in it and started to have a survey of the earth. ٲṣa was disappointed that the children left him without showing any interest in the work of creation. So he produced another five thousand sons and asked them to start the work of creation. But they were also sent away as before by 岹. ٲṣa became angry and he created sixty daughters.
He gave thirteen daughters to śⲹ貹, ten to Dharma, twentyseven to Candra, two to ṛg, four to ṣṭԱ, two to Kṛtāśva, and two to ṅg. Of these most of the living things in the world were born to śⲹ貹. (7th Skandha, ٱī 岵ٲ).
śⲹ貹 was the last of the ʰ貹پs. śⲹ貹 married the daughters of ٲṣa named Aditi, Diti, Danu, , 峾, ǻś, Manu, and Analā. Aditi got thirtythree sons and their family consists of the thirtythree crores of Devas. From Diti were born the daityas or asuras. From Danu was born the Բ Ჹⲹī. got two sons, Naraka and ka. 峾 got five daughters, ñī, ī, Śī, ٳṛtṣṭī and Śܰī. ñī gave birth to owls, ī to and Śyeni to ŚԲ (Vultures, Kites etc.). ٳṛtṣṭī gave birth to Ჹṃs, ṃs and Kokas. Śܰī gave birth to and ٲ in turn to վԲ. ǻś gave birth to ten daughters; ṛgī, ṛgԻ, Ჹī, Bhadramadā, ٲṅgī, Śūī, Ś, Surabhi, ܰ and ū. Of these ṛgī gave birth to beasts, Mrgamandā to trees and plants. Lions and monkeys are the children of Hari, Bhadramadā got a daughter named 屹ī. 屹ٲ was the son of 屹ī. From ٲṅgī were born the elephants and from Śūī the tigers. The Aṣṭadiggajas are the sons of Ś. Surabhi got two daughters named dzṇ� and ҲԻī. Cows are the children of dzṇ� and horses are the children of ҲԻī. Serpents are the sons of ܰ and ū gave birth to snakes. From Manu were born men. Trees are the sons of Analā. վԲ got two sons named ṇa and Ҳḍa. To ṇa were born two sons, ṭҳ and پ.
The end of the World
—There are different views in the ʳܰṇa regarding the end of the world. The different ʳܰṇa give different views. For knowing the views of Agni ʳܰṇa on the subject see under the heading 'Pralaya'. The eleventh Skandha of 岵ٲ gives the following theory regarding the end of the world.
All the material objects of the world will become illusory. Fire will increase. There will be no rains for hundred years together. The World will be burnt by the heat. The heat will go down to the head of Ananta who holds this world on his head. The Saptameghas (Seven Clouds) will rise up in the sunshine infested with the poisonous breath of Ananta. Then rains will start pouring down in streams as thick as the trunk of an elephant. Everything will be drowned in that water. վṣṇ alone will be left above the vast expanse of water. (See under Manvantara).