When the mighty life-breaths returned to Brahma, the Lord of all, Rudra’s face shone with joy. With supreme compassion, Rudra addressed Brahma, saying, “Do not fear, O greatly fortunate one, O Virincha, teacher of the worlds. By my grace, your life-breaths have been restored—rise happily, O virtuous one.” Hearing these gentle words, Brahma—still feeling as if in a dream—slowly gazed at Hara, his eyes shining like blossoming lotuses. Revived and grateful, Brahma joined his hands and, in a gentle and deep voice, spoke to Rudra: “Your very sight gladdens my mind. Who are you, standing before me as the universal form, composed of eleven aspects?” Maheshvara, the Lord of gods, touched Brahma with his gentle hands and replied, “Know me as the supreme self, who has come as your son. These eleven Rudras have come to protect you. Therefore, cast off this intense faintness by my grace and awaken as before. You ought to create beings again.” Thus addressed, Brahma’s mind was filled with delight. The soul of the universe praised the supreme lord with hymns of eight verses, offering salutations to Rudra whose radiance equals the sun, to Bhava whose essence is water and sap, to Sharva whose form is earth, and to Nandi and Surabhi. He bowed to Vasava, whose nature is touch; to the Lord of creatures, the blazing one of surpassing brilliance, the terrible one, the one whose form is space, and the one who is mere sound. He saluted the fierce one, whose essence is the sacrificer, the great god, Soma, and the immortal one. Having thus praised the great god, Brahma, the grandsire of the worlds, addressed the Lord of all with reverence: “O Blessed One, O Lord of past and future, O my son, O Great Lord, you have arisen from my body for the purpose of creation, as the destroyer of Kāmadeva. Therefore, O Lord of the universe, as I am engaged in this great task, grant me your assistance everywhere; you ought to create these beings.” By this request, Rudra, destroyer of the three cities, was purified, and Shankara accepted Brahma’s words, saying, “So be it.” Brahma, delighted, honored Rudra, and, thus permitted, began to create other beings. By mind alone, Brahma created Marīci, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Dakṣa, Atri, and Vasiṣṭha; and before them, he created Dharma and resolve. Thus, these twelve sons of Brahma, together with Rudra, are proclaimed as the ancient householders. From them arise twelve divine lineages, accompanied by hosts of gods, abounding in progeny and rites, adorned by great sages. Desiring to create the fourfold groups—gods, asuras, ancestors, and humans—Brahma, along with Rudra, set forth the ordinance in the waters. Concentrating himself for creation, Brahma engaged his own self: from his mouth he generated the gods and the ancestors in due order; from his loins, all the asuras; from his lower parts, humans; and from the refuse, possessed by hunger, the rākṣasas were born. His sons, mostly of darkness and passion, powerful and roaming at night, included serpents, yakṣas, spirits, and gandharvas. Brahma created birds from his feathers, winged creatures from his chest, and serpents from his sides. From his feet arose horses, elephants, śarabhas, wild oxen, and deer. From his hairs came herbs, fruits, and roots; and also Gāyatrī, Ṛc, the threefold Sāman, and Rathantara. From his mouth, he first produced Agniṣṭoma among sacrifices, as well as the Yajus, the Triṣṭubh meter, and the Stoma of fifteen parts. He also brought forth the Bṛhatsāma, the Uktha, Sāma hymns, the Jagatī meter, and the seventeenth Stoma. From his western face came the Vairūpya, the Atirātra, the twenty-first Atharva, and the Āptoryāma sacrifice. From his northern face, he produced the Anuṣṭubh and the Vairāja; and from his limbs arose beings of varied forms. Yakṣas, Piśācas, Gandharvas, hosts of Apsarases, humans, Kinnaras, Rākṣasas, birds, animals, and serpents were born. The imperishable, the immovable and moving, all that is called Sthāṇu, and their actions previously created, entered into them. Those very actions are repeatedly assumed by beings as they are created again and again, whether violent or gentle, righteous or unrighteous, true or false. Influenced by these actions, beings take on their nature, and thus diversity is seen among the great elements, the senses, and in liberation. The creator himself assigned the functions of beings, their names and forms, and the manifestation of natural entities. In the beginning, the Grandfather fashioned from the words of the Vedas the names of sages and the usages found in the Vedas. At the end of each cycle, he gave to those born the same forms and marks as before, with various appearances in succession. Those same forms and states are seen at the beginning of each era; thus, the creation of the world arises spontaneously from the instruments. The transformation of Prakṛti, from the great principle to the particular, is adorned with the radiance of the moon and sun, and encircled by planets and stars.