In ancient times, the vast and water-laden wings called Puṣkarā, also known as Puṣkarāvartakā, played a crucial role in the cosmic order. These wings took on many forms, producing terrifying sounds as they moved through the skies. At the end of each age, they brought forth rains and held back the destructive fire of dissolution, ensuring the world’s renewal. Supported by the wind, these wings moved with immortality, faithfully fulfilling their duties as each age unfolded. When the cosmic egg was first broken open, these wings emerged as its natural products. From this primordial event, Brahmā—the self-born Lord with four faces—arose, and the fragments of the egg’s shell were declared to be clouds. Clouds, nourished universally by smoke, are sustained by this cycle. Among them, Parjanya stands as the foremost, accompanied by the four mighty elephants guarding the directions. The families of elephants, mountains, clouds, and serpents are all of a single kind, divided into two; their origin is traced back to water, the source of all. During winter, Parjanya and the elephants of the directions produce frost and rain, which help crops to flourish. The sixth, known as Parivaha, is the wind that supports them, bearing the celestial Ganges as it flows through the sky. This sacred, divine, nectar-like water, famed as Tripathā, has trembling drops scattered by the elephants of the directions, using their broad hands. These elephants release droplets that are called mist. To the south lies the mountain Hemakūṭa, and to its north is the region of Puṇḍra, celebrated for its abundant rainfall. In Puṇḍra, rain arises from frost, and from the wind that sweeps over the Himalaya, snow is produced. Driven by its own force, this snow pours down upon the great mountain, crossing the Himalaya, after which the remaining rain continues its journey. Upon the face of the elephant, a double rain is declared for the growth of living beings, ensuring abundant rainfall. The story of clouds and their nourishment has been told, but it is the Sun alone who is recognized as the creator of rain. Rain, heat, cold, night, twilight, day, and all auspicious and inauspicious results proceed from Dhruva, the cosmic pole. Presided over by Dhruva, the Sun holds the waters, and these waters are present within all living beings. When these beings, both moving and unmoving, are burned, their waters become smoke and depart entirely. From this smoke, clouds are produced, and the region where clouds form is called the cloud-region. The Sun, with its rays, draws water from all the worlds. From the ocean, the Sun’s rays, united with the wind, carry water upward, and according to the seasons and time, the Sun revolves in its course. The Sun restrains water in the clouds—especially the white ones with white rays—and when the winds stir these waters, they fall as rain. For six months, rain pours down, nourishing all beings. Thunder arises from the winds, while lightning is born of fire. The very name 'megha,' meaning cloud, comes from the root 'mih,' indicating its nature. Waters never perish, and thus the existence of clouds is assured. The Sun, fixed by the pole star, is both the creator and sustainer of rainfall. The wind, also established by the pole, gathers the rain again. When the eclipse ceases, the wind moves from the Sun to the circle of stars. At the end of its journey, it enters the Sun, fixed by the pole, and thus the arrangement of the Sun’s chariot is revealed. This chariot of the Sun is wondrous: it has a single wheel with five spokes, three hubs, a golden and minute axle, eight wheels, one rim, and a radiant wheel. It stretches a hundred thousand yojanas in breadth and length, with a shaft twice the size of its base. Created by Brahmā for a divine purpose, the chariot is unattached, golden, and yoked with horses driven by the wind. The meters of the Vedas serve as its steeds, arranged according to the wheels, making it resemble the chariot of Varuna. With this chariot, the radiant Sun travels daily across the sky. Its parts and their arrangement correspond to the components of the year, ordered precisely. The navel of the Sun is the single wheel; the spokes are the years, the rims are the six seasons. Night is the yoke, righteousness stands as the banner, the ends of the axle mark the ages, and the divisions of time bear the seasons. Its marks are boundaries, rows of teeth, and moments; its movement is a blink, and the shaft is its division. The ends of the axle signify both purpose and desire. The seven Vedic meters—Gayatri, Trishtup, Jagati, Anushtubh, Pankti, Brihati, and Ushnik—are the horses, swiftly carried by the wind. The wheel is fixed on the axle, the axle on the pole; the wheel rotates with the axle, and the pole rotates with the axle. The axle and wheel together revolve, impelled by the pole star, and thus, by the force of its purpose, the chariot is arranged. By the combination of its parts, the Sun’s chariot is established, and the shining god moves through the sky toward heaven. The ends of the yoke and axle lie to the right; as the chariot revolves, the rays are its two, belonging to the wheel and yoke. The circles of this chariot, moving through the sky, revolve like a potter’s wheel, forming a circle in every direction—a testament to the divine order that governs the movement of the Sun and the cycles of rain, seasons, and time.