Once, owing to a certain fault, the medicinal plants upon the earth ceased to flourish. Many of these precious herbs were lost all at once, and their absence brought great confusion and suffering among the people, who were afflicted by hunger. In their distress, they sought refuge in Brahma, the supreme Lord, hoping for relief. Understanding their plight and perceiving the earth as consumed and barren, Brahma devised a solution. He made Mount Sumeru the calf and milked the earth, drawing forth her bounty as the mighty Lord. Through his act, grains appeared upon the earth’s surface, and the seeds—both cultivated and wild—were produced anew. Among these, seventeen groups of medicinal plants that bear fruit came forth: rice, barley, wheat, millet, and sesame; priyangu, udara, koradusha, chinaka; masha, mudga, masura, nishpava, kulattha; adhaka and chanaka. These seventeen are the ancient varieties of cultivated medicinal plants. In addition, fourteen kinds of medicinal plants, both cultivated and wild, were produced: rice, barley, wheat, millet, sesame, priyangu, kulattha, shyamaka, nivara, yava, tila, gavedhuka, kuruvinda, markataka, and venu-yava. These fourteen are remembered as both cultivated and wild. Yet, even after the seeds were sown, the plants did not sprout again. Seeing this, Brahma devised the means of agriculture to ensure their growth. The self-born Lord established the accomplishment of work by hand, and from that time onward, cultivated plants began to be produced. When agriculture was perfected, Brahma established proper boundaries for the crops, according to justice and their qualities. He also set forth the duties of the classes and stages of life for all the worlds and all classes, so that dharma and wealth would be rightly upheld. He designated places for each class: for Brahmanas engaged in rites, the place is remembered as Prajapatya; for Kshatriyas who stand firm in battle, Indra’s; for Vaishyas who follow their duties, Maruta; and for Shudras engaged in service, Gandharva. The place for the eighty-eight thousand ascetic sages is the same as that for those who dwell with their teachers. The seven seers reside in the place of forest-dwellers; householders in Prajapatya; renunciants in the abode of Brahman; and yogis in the immortal place. Thus, the arrangement of places was established. At this point, Kraustuki spoke: “O Lord, you have told me in detail about the origin of the cosmic egg and the birth of Brahma, the great soul, within it. But I wish to know: at the end of dissolution, when everything is withdrawn, does the creation of beings exist or not?” Markandeya replied: “When this entire universe dissolves into Prakriti, the learned call this the Prakritika dissolution. When the manifest and its modifications are withdrawn and rest in their own nature, Prakriti and Purusha remain together, established in their essence. At that time, tamas and sattva are balanced, neither excessive nor deficient, interwoven with each other. Just as oil is present in sesame seeds or ghee in milk, so too rajas is present, accompanying tamas and sattva. For as long as Brahma’s lifespan lasts—two parardhas—this is a day of the Supreme Lord; an equal period is his night during dissolution. At the dawn, the beginningless source of the universe awakens, the cause of all, whose nature is inconceivable, supreme, and acts without another. The Lord of the universe enters both Prakriti and Purusha, stirring them through supreme yoga, being the highest Lord. Just as intoxication enters young women or the spring wind causes agitation, so does He, embodied as Yoga, enter and stir them. When primordial matter is thus agitated, the god called Brahma arises within the cosmic egg, as I have described. He who was the agitator before, the Lord of Prakriti, remains established in the state of Pradhana, both in contraction and expansion. Though without qualities, He, the source of the world, assumes the quality of rajas and engages in creation, taking on the role of Brahma. In the state of Brahma, after creating beings, He, endowed with sattva, assumes the role of Vishnu and protects through righteousness. Then, dominated by tamas, He becomes Rudra, withdrawing the entire world, and rests, being threefold in qualities yet beyond them, over the three worlds. Just as a field-pervader, protector, or reaper takes on their respective names, so does He assume the names and functions of Brahma, Vishnu, and Ishvara. In the state of Brahma, He creates worlds; in the state of Rudra, He dissolves; and in the state of Vishnu, He remains indifferent—these are the three states of the Self-born. Rajas is Brahma, tamas is Rudra, sattva is Vishnu, the Lord of the world; these three are the gods and these three are the qualities. They are mutually paired and dependent, never separated, nor do they abandon one another. Thus, Brahma, the first of the world, god of gods, four-faced, established in creation by resorting to rajas, is thus situated. Hiranyagarbha, the first of the gods, though beginningless in a figurative sense, was born at the beginning, established on the lotus stalk rising from the earth. His lifespan, O great-souled one, is a hundred years. Now, listen to the reckoning of that, according to the measure of Brahma.