CHAP.

I.

succession, this whole assemblage of locomotive and

'immovable creatures.

58. HE, having enacted this code of laws, himself

taught it fully to me in the beginning: afterwards I

taught it MARICHI and the nine other holy sages.

59. This my son BHRIGU will repeat the divine code

'to you without omission; for that sage learned from

6 me to recite the whole of it.'

or

60. BHRIGU, great and wise, having thus been ap-

pointed by MENU to promulge his laws, addressed all
the Rishis with an affectionate mind, saying: 'Hear!

61. FROM this MENU named SWA'YAMBHUVAa,

Sprung from the self-existing, came six descendants,
'other MENUS, or perfectly understanding the scrip-
ture, each giving birth to a race of his own, all ex-
alted in dignity, eminent in power;

6

6

62.

SWA'RO'CHISHA, AUTTAMI, TA'MASA, RAIVATA like-

'wise and CHA'CSHUSHA, beaming with glory, and VAI-
VASWATA, child of the sun.

63.

The seven MENUS, (or those first created, who

are to be followed by seven more) of whom SWA'YAM-

BHUVA is the chief, have produced and supported this

' world of moving and stationary beings, each in his

6

own antara, or the period of his reign.

6

64. Eighteen niméshas, or twinklings of an eye, are

'one cáshť'há; thirty cáshť hás, one calá; thirty calás,

one

I.

one muhúrta: and just so many muhúrtas let man- CHAP.

'kind consider as the duration of their day and night.

65. The sun causes the distribution of day and

night, both divine and human; night being intended

' for the repose of various beings, and day for their

• exertion.

6

66. A month of mortals is a day and a night of
the Pitris or patriarchs inhabiting the moon; and the
'division of a month being into equal halves, the half
beginning from the full moon is their day for actions;
' and that beginning from the new moon is their night
' for slumber.

67. 6
A year of mortals is a day and a night of the

Gods, or regents of the universe seated round the

"north pole; and again their division is this, their

day is the northern, and their night the southern

course of the sun.

6

6

68. Learn now the duration of a day and a night
ofB RAHMA', and of the several ages which shall be

⚫ mentioned in order succinctly.

69. Sages have given the name of Crita to an age

containing four thousand years of the Gods; the

'twilight preceding it consists of as many hundreds,

' and the twilight following it, of the same number:

70. In the other three ages, with their twilights

preceding and following, are thousands and hun-

'dreds diminished by one.

CHAP.

I.

6

or

71. The divine years, in the four human ages just

enumerated, being added together, their sum,

twelve thousand, is called the age of the Gods:

72. And, by reckoning a thousand such divine

ages, a day of BRAHMA may be known: his night
also has an equal duration :

73. Those persons best know the divisions of the

days and nights, who understand that the day of
BRAHMA', which endures to the end of a thousand
such ages, gives rise to virtuous exertions; and that
'his night endures as long as his day.

6

74. At the close of his night, having long re-

posed, he awakes, and awaking, exerts intellect, or
reproduces the great principle of animation, whose
property it is to exist unperceived by sense :

75. Intellect, called into action by his will to cre-

ate worlds, performs again the work of creation;
' and thence first emerges the subtil ether, to which
philosophers ascribe the quality of conveying sound;

6

76. From ether, effecting a transmutation in form,

springs the pure and potent air, a vehicle of all
scents; and air is held endued with the quality of
'touch:

6

77. Then from air, operating a change, rises light

or fire, making objects visible, dispelling gloom,
spreading bright rays; and it is declared to have the

' quality of figure;

78. But

78. But from light, a change being effected, comes CHAP.

water with the quality of taste; and from water is

I.

deposited earth with the quality of smell: such were

I they created in the beginning.

79. The before-mentioned age of the Gods, or

twelve thousand of their years, being multiplied by
seventy-one, constitutes what is here named a Men-
wantara, or the reign of a MENU.

80. There are numberless Menwantaras; creations

also and destructions of worlds, innumerable: the
Being supremely exalted performs all this, with as
'much ease as if in sport; again and again, for the
sake of conferring happiness.

81. In the Crita age the Genius of truth and right,

in the form of a Bull, stands firm on his four feet;
nor does any advantage accrue to men from iniquity;

82. But in the following ages, by reason of unjust

gains, he is deprived successively of one foot; and

even just emoluments, through the prevalence of

theft, falsehood, and fraud, are gradually diminished

by a fourth part.

83. Men, free from disease, attain all sorts of

prosperity, and live four hundred years in the Crita

age; but, in the Trétà and the succeeding ages, their

life is lessened gradually by one quarter.

6

84. The life of mortals, which is mentioned in the

Veda, the rewards of good works, and the powers

' of

of embodied spirits, are fruits proportioned among

men to the order of the four ages.

85. Some duties are performed by good men in the

'Crita age; others, in the Trétà; some, in the Dwá-

6

para; others, in the Cali; in proportion as those
ages decrease in length.

86. In the Crita the prevailing virtue is declared

to be in devotion; in the Trétà, divine knowledge; in

the Dwápara, holy sages call sacrifice the duty
chiefly performed; in the Cali, liberality alone.

87. FOR the sake of preserving this universe, the

Being, supremely glorious, allotted separate duties to
those who sprang respectively from his mouth, his
arm, his thigh, and his foot.

88. To Bráhmens he assigned the duties of read-

ing the Veda, of teaching it, of sacrificing, of as-
sisting others to sacrifice, of giving alms, if they be
rich, and, if indigent, of receiving gifts:

89. To defend the people, to give alms, to sacri-

'fice, to read the Veda, to shun the allurements of
'sensual gratification, are, in a few words, the duties
of a Cshatriya:

90. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses,

to sacrifice, to read the scripture, to carry on trade,

to lend at interest, and to cultivate land are pre-

scribed or permitted to a Vaisya: