Description of Creation

The sages said

Tell us of all the manvantaras and kalpas with their divisions, and of sarga and pratisarga.

Vayu answered

The span of Brahma's time is one parardha followed by another, and at the end of that creation begins again. Fortunate ones, in each day of the first-born Brahma there are fourteen Manus. The manvantaras and kalpas have no beginning and no end, and all of them are still unknown, so it cannot be done to speak of each one. Listen to my words: what is gained by describing them one at a time? That does not interest me. Among all these kalpas there is one now running, and for it I will briefly describe creation and secondary creation. This kalpa is called Varaha kalpa, best of sages, and it has fourteen Manus. The first seven are Svayambhuva and the others, and the other seven are Savarni and the rest. The seventh Manu, Vaivasvata, is the present one. Across all these manvantaras the character of creation, preservation and destruction is much the same, and only the ignorant argue about it.

When the earlier kalpa drew to its close, a wind of destruction began. It tore up forests and trees by their roots. The fire god burned the world like dry grass. Rain poured on the ground and the oceans crossed their shores, and all directions were drowned in one great mass of water. The stirred and turbulent waves seemed to dance with raised arms, and the waters of dissolution began a terrible dance. Brahma entered Narayana, who lay contentedly asleep on that water. A shloka about Narayana is quoted here, and it is actually a mantra; best of sages, hear its syllables and grasp the meaning: water is called Naara because water is the child of Nara, and he is called Narayana because his resting place is there. The lord of gods slept absorbed in Shiva's yoga. The siddhas, dwellers of Janaloka, joined their hands, and when morning came these learned ones tried to wake him with hymns, just as the shrutis had done for Ishvara at the first creation. So he woke on his couch in the midst of the water. With the sleep of yoga still in his eyes he looked in every direction, but could see nobody other than himself. He seemed amazed and was lost in deep thought. "Where is the illustrious, lovely great earth? Where are her giant mountains, rivers, cities and forests?" Thinking so, Brahma could not tell where the earth was. Then he remembered his father, Bhagavan Trilochana. As soon as he remembered the lord of the gods, Bhava's endless energy made the lord of the earth understand that the earth had sunk in the water.

Prajapati wanted the earth lifted up, and he called to mind the divine Varaha playing in the water. His body was huge as a mountain, his roar like the thunder of a great cloud, his colour that of a blue cloud, and the sound he made was piercing and terrible. His shoulders were thick, heavy and round, his waist lofty and heavy, his thighs and calves short and round, and his hooves very sharp. His round, fierce eyes shone like rubies. His long, round body was huge and his ears stood up blazing. As he breathed in and out he churned the water of that ocean of dissolution. His cheeks and shoulders were covered with glistening hair. He was adorned with sparkling jewels and many large, wonderful gems, tall as a bank of clouds lit by lightning. Taking this gigantic form, Varaha came to Vidhatri and then entered Rasatala to raise the earth. The radiant boar, like a mountain, reached the feet of Mahesha, who had taken the form of a lingam. The earth lay under the water, but he lifted her from Rasatala on his two tusks. Seeing this, the sages and siddhas of Janaloka rejoiced. They danced and showered flowers on his hand, and covered in those flowers Varaha's enormous body shone, as if fireflies were flying around a high mountain of collyrium. The lord Varaha then returned to his natural form and set the great earth in her place. He levelled her and established mountains on her, and as before he arranged the four worlds. So he raised the earth and mountains out of that vast water and set them in place, and the maker of the worlds created the world again with its moving and unmoving things.