Though He is truly without qualities, the Supreme Source of the world, at the dawn of creation, assumes the quality of rajas—dynamic energy—and thus takes on the role of Brahma, the Creator. In this state, He brings forth all beings. When the act of creation is complete, He becomes suffused with sattva, the quality of purity and harmony, and then assumes the aspect of Vishnu, the Preserver, protecting the universe through righteousness. Later, when the time for dissolution arrives, He is dominated by tamas, the quality of inertia and darkness, and as Rudra, He withdraws the entire world into Himself. In this way, He rests, encompassing all three qualities—rajas, sattva, and tamas—yet always remaining beyond them, transcending even as He pervades the three worlds. Just as a person working in a field may be called a cultivator, a protector, or a reaper, depending on their function, so too does this Supreme Being take on the names and duties of Brahma, Vishnu, and Ishvara (Rudra) according to His role. In the state of Brahma, He creates the worlds; as Rudra, He dissolves them; and as Vishnu, He maintains a state of equanimity—these are the threefold states of the Self-born One. Rajas is associated with Brahma, tamas with Rudra, and sattva with Vishnu, the Lord of the world. These three—Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra—are the gods, and they are the very embodiment of the three fundamental qualities. They are intertwined, mutually dependent, and never separate from one another, not even for a moment. Thus, Brahma, the first among the gods and the four-faced lord, is established in the act of creation through rajas. Hiranyagarbha, the golden embryo and the first of the gods, though said to be without beginning, is born at the dawn of creation, seated upon a lotus stalk that rises from the earth. O great-souled one, Brahma’s lifespan is a hundred years, and I will now explain how this is measured. Ten nimeṣas (blinks of an eye) make one kāṣṭhā; five kāṣṭhās make one kalā; thirty kalās make a muhūrta; and thirty muhūrtas make a full day and night. For humans, a day and night is thirty muhūrtas. Thirty such days and nights make two fortnights, which together form a month. A year consists of six months, divided into the southern and northern courses of the sun. For the gods, a day and night is marked by the northern course (uttarāyaṇa) as their day and the southern course (dakṣiṇāyana) as their night. Now, a cycle of four yugas—Krita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—comprises twelve thousand years of the gods. Let me tell you the divisions: the Krita Yuga lasts four thousand divine years, with a dawn and dusk of four hundred years each. The Treta Yuga is three thousand years, with three hundred years each for its dawn and dusk. The Dvapara Yuga is two thousand years, with two hundred years for both dawn and dusk. The Kali Yuga, the final age, is one thousand years, with a hundred years each for its dawn and dusk. Thus, the four yugas together total twelve thousand divine years. When this is multiplied by a thousand, it makes a single day of Brahma. Within one day of Brahma, there are fourteen Manus, each presiding over a period called a manvantara, which is a division of this thousand-fold span. With each Manu, the gods, the Seven Sages, Indra, Manu himself, and the kings who are his sons are all created anew, and at the end of their period, they too dissolve, just as before. Each manvantara contains seventy-one and a fraction cycles of the four yugas. In human years, a manvantara is thirty crore years, plus sixty-six niyutas, and an additional twenty thousand years—making the period slightly longer. In divine years, a manvantara is eight thousand plus fifty-two thousand years. Fourteen such manvantaras make up a day of Brahma. At the end of this day, a dissolution called naimittika occurs, as declared by the wise. During this dissolution, the earth, the atmosphere, and the heavens are all destroyed, perishing while the world of Maharloka remains. The inhabitants of Maharloka, due to the intense heat of dissolution, ascend to Janaloka. The three worlds are then covered by a single ocean, and Brahma sleeps through the night. Brahma’s night is equal in length to his day; at its end, creation begins anew. In this way, one year of Brahma is completed, and so too a hundred such years. A hundred years is called the supreme span of Brahma’s life, and half of it—fifty years—is known as a parārdha. O best of the twice-born, one parārdha of Brahma’s life has already passed. At its end occurred the great kalpa known as the Padma. Now, in the second parārdha, the first kalpa is called the Vārāha. Thus, the creations of Brahma, whose birth is unmanifest, arise at the end of each night when he awakens, in every kalpa. During these cycles, settlements arise in many forms. A settlement without walls or moats is called a kharvata. There are also branch towns, ministerial domains, and territories governed by vassals. Villages are those inhabited mainly by Shudras, who sustain themselves through their own prosperity and agricultural labor, dwelling amidst fields and usable land. Any dwelling established by people for a specific purpose, apart from cities, is considered a residence. In a village, a person who is mostly unruly, strong, and who roams on others’ land without fields, taking refuge with the king’s favor, is called a dramī. A settlement of cowherds, lacking a marketplace, with goods loaded on carts and herds of cows, wherever they choose to dwell, is known as a ghoṣa. After establishing cities and settlements for themselves, people also built abodes for pairs of inhabitants, to serve as residences. As in earlier times, their houses were built near trees, and remembering this ancient practice, they continued to construct their homes in the same way.