With profound reverence, homage was offered to the Supreme Lord—Vasava—whose very nature is touch, the lord of all creatures, the blazing one of unsurpassed brilliance, the terrible and awesome, whose form is the very expanse of space and whose essence is sound itself. Salutations flowed to the fierce one of fearsome form, whose being is the sacrificer, to the great god, to Soma, and to the immortal in form. Having thus extolled the great god with these praises, Brahmā, the grandsire of all the worlds, addressed the Lord of all with words marked by deep veneration. “O Blessed One, Lord of the past and future, my son, Great Lord! You have arisen from my very body for the work of creation, as the destroyer of Kāmadeva. Therefore, O Lord of the universe, as I undertake this immense task, grant me your assistance everywhere. You ought to create these beings.” By this invocation and request, the god Rudra—destroyer of the three cities—was purified. Śaṅkara accepted Brahmā’s words, replying, “So be it.” Then, delighted, Brahmā honored Rudra, and, with his permission, proceeded to create further beings. By the power of his mind alone, Brahmā created Marīci, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Dakṣa, Atri, and Vasiṣṭha. Before these, he had created Dharma and resolve. Thus, these twelve sons of Brahmā, together with Rudra, are proclaimed as the first and ancient householders. From these progenitors arose twelve lineages, divine and attended by hosts of gods, teeming with descendants and sacred rites, adorned by great sages. Then, desiring to create the fourfold groups—gods, asuras, ancestors, and humans—Brahmā, along with Rudra, set the ordinance of creation in the waters. For this purpose, Brahmā concentrated and engaged his own being. From his mouth, he generated the gods and, in due order, the ancestors. From his loins arose all the asuras, and from his lower parts, humans. From the refuse, possessed by hunger, the rākṣasas were born. His sons, mostly of darkness and passion—powerful beings who roamed at night, serpents, yakṣas, spirits, and gandharvas—also came forth. From his feathers, Brahmā created birds; from his chest, he produced winged creatures; and from his sides, serpents. From his feet emerged horses, elephants, śarabhas, wild oxen, and deer. From his hairs were born herbs, fruits, and roots. He also brought forth Gāyatrī, Ṛc, the threefold Sāman, and Rathantara. From his mouth, he first produced the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice, the Yajus, the Triṣṭubh meter, and the Stoma of fifteen parts. Also from his mouth arose the Bṛhatsāma, Uktha, Sāma hymns, the Jagatī meter, and the seventeenth Stoma. From his western face, he brought forth the Vairūpya, Atirātra, the twenty-first Atharva, and the Āptoryāma sacrifice. From his northern face, he produced the Anuṣṭubh and Vairāja; from his limbs, beings of varied forms appeared. Thus were born yakṣas, piśācas, gandharvas, the hosts of apsarases, humans, kinnaras, rākṣasas, birds, animals, and serpents. Into all these, the imperishable, the immovable and moving, all that is called Sthāṇu, and the actions previously created, entered. These very actions are assumed again and again by beings as they are created—whether violent or gentle, righteous or unrighteous, true or false. Under their influence, beings take on their various natures, and thus, diversity is seen among the great elements, the senses, and in the paths to liberation. The creator himself assigned to all beings their functions, names, and forms, as well as 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 dawn of each era; thus, the world arises spontaneously from the instruments of creation. 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. It is further adorned with rivers, oceans, mountains, and delightful, prosperous regions of many kinds. In that vast Brahma forest, the unmanifest Brahmā moves, all-knowing, established by the Lord’s grace, arising from the seed of the unmanifest. There, intellect is the great branch, the senses are inner hollows, the great elements measure its expanse, and the pure shoots of particularities sprout forth. Rich with the blossoms of righteousness and unrighteousness, yielding the fruits of pleasure and pain, the eternal Brahma tree is the source of life for all beings. The sages declare: its head is the sky, its navel is space, its eyes are the moon and sun, its ears are the directions, its feet are the earth—this inconceivable Self is the mover of all beings. From its mouth arose the Brāhmaṇas, from its chest the Kṣatriyas, from its front the Vaiśyas, and from its thighs and feet the Śūdras; all the castes were born from its limbs. At this point, the question arose: “You have described the creation by the Supreme Self, Bhava, from the mouth of the Four-faced One; yet, we have a doubt about this. The foremost of gods, Virūpākṣa—radiant, bearing the trident, Hara, the embodiment of time, the blessed Rudra with matted hair, dark and red-hued—he, at the end of the age, in anger, withdraws this world along with Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and even Fire. Before him, Brahmā and Viṣṇu bow in awe and fear, for he contracts the worlds, and those two remain under his control.