At that time, as the cycle of creation unfolded, there were beings who dwelled in union with the night; they worshipped the form that stands between day and night, honoring that sacred juncture. From this union, the creator’s sons were born—humans enveloped in the quality of passion, their natures shaped by rajas. The radiance that emerged in this process, O revered sages, became what is known as the morning twilight, that gentle, luminous threshold between night and day. Once more, the creator united with a form dominated by both darkness and passion, and from this union arose sons who were powerful night-wanderers, their beings marked by tamas and rajas. Then the Lord, in his boundless creativity, brought forth others, beings possessed by both passion and darkness. Some he produced from his mouth, others from his belly; from his hairs were born wild women who lived on fruits in the forests. From his mouth, he first created the sacred Agniṣṭoma sacrifice, the foremost among rituals. From the right side of his mouth, he brought forth the Bṛhat Sāman and the Uktha; from the western side, the Vairūpa and the Atirātra; and from the northern side, the Anuṣṭubh and the Savairāja. As Brahmā, the lord of all creatures, continued his creation, he brought into being both immobile and mobile entities—the imperishable and the perishable, the stationary and the moving. These beings, though created again and again, ultimately return to him, absorbed back into his essence, which is a source of delight to the creator. He himself assigns to each being their proper function, fashioning them in the very beginning from the sacred words of the Veda. At the close of the cosmic night, the unborn Lord restores these very beings to existence once more. Thus, at the dawn of each age, the same beings and their states are seen anew. Yet, when these creatures, created by the wise one, did not multiply as intended, Brahmā devised intelligence—buddhi—that would lead to the determination of purpose. Enveloping rajas and sattva, and acting according to their own nature, he suppressed tamas, and from this, a pair was born. Then, Brahmā removed his own radiant form, and with one half, he created a woman, and with the other, a man named Virāj. The woman, by her greatness, pervaded both heaven and earth, establishing herself firmly in the universe. From the man Virāj, who was born from the unmanifest, came a son. This goddess, renowned as Śatarūpā, undertook severe and difficult austerities. From Virāj and Śatarūpā, two sons were born. Of these, Manu gave his daughter Prasūti to Dakṣa. Yajña and Dakṣiṇā, by whom the world was nourished, were also born. In the era of Svāyambhuva, the gods called them Yāmā. Brahmā then created daughters as well; listen carefully to their names: Buddhi, Lajjā, Vapu, Śānti, Siddhi, Kīrti, and Trayodaśī. From them came younger daughters—eleven fair-eyed maidens: Saṃtati, Anasūyā, Ūrjā, Svāhā, and also Svadhā. Among the sages, Pulastya, Pulaha, and Kratu, each foremost in their knowledge of dharma, took as wives the daughters, beginning with Khyāti. Thus, the creation unfolded, with the great Lord’s will manifesting through the union of wisdom, austerity, and divine purpose, ensuring the world’s nourishment and the continuation of all beings.