the form of BRAHMA', the great forefather of • all spirits.

10. The waters are called nárá, because they were the production of NARA, or the Spirit of GOD; and, fince they were his first

ayana, or place of motion, he thence is named 'NA'RA'YANA, or moving on the waters.

II. From THAT WHICH Is, the first cause, not the object of sense, existing every where in Substance, not existing to our perception, without beginning or end, was produced the divine male, famed in all worlds under the appellation ' of BRAHMA'.

12. In that egg the great power fat inactive ' a whole year of the Creator, at the close of which by his thought alone he caused the egg to di'vide itself;

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13. And from its two divifions he framed the heaven above and the earth beneath: in the midst be placed the fubtil ether, the eight regions, and the permanent receptacle of

6 waters.

14. From the fupreme foul he drew forth Mind, exifting fubftantially though unperceived by fenfe, immaterial; and, before mind, or the reasoning power, he produced consciousnefs, the internal monitor, the ruler;

15. And, before them both, he produced the

great principle of the foul, or first expansion of 'the divine idea; and all vital forms endued ⚫ with the three qualities of goodness, paffion, and darkness; and the five perceptions of sense, ' and the five organs of fenfation.

16. Thus, having at once pervaded, with emanations from the Supreme Spirit, the mi⚫nuteft portions of fix principles immensely operative, confcioufnefs and the five perceptions, He 'framed all creatures;

17. And fince the minutest particles of vifible nature have a dependence on those fix 'emanations from GoD, the wife have accordingly given the name of s'arira, or depending on fix, that is, the ten organs on consciousness, and the five elements on as many perceptions, 'to His image or appearance in visible nature : 18. Thence proceed the great elements, en• dued with peculiar powers, the Mind with oper'ations infinitely fubtil, the unperishable cause ⚫ of all apparent forms.

19. This univerfe, therefore, is compacted 'from the minute portions of those seven divine and active principles, the great Soul, or first

emanation, confcioufness, and five perceptions;

a mutable univerfe from immutable ideas.

20. Among them each fucceeding element

acquires the quality of the preceding; and, in

' as many degrees as each of them is advanced, with so many properties is it faid to be en• dued.

21. ‘Hɛ too firft affigned to all creatures • distinct names, distinct acts, and diftinct occu

pations; as they had been revealed in the preexisting Vida:

22. HE, the fupreme Ruler, created an affemblage of inferior Deities, with divine attri'butes and pure fouls; and a number of Genii exquisitely delicate; and he prescribed the sa'crifice ordained from the beginning.

23. From fire, from air, and from the fun 'he milked out, as it were, the three primordial Védas, named Rich, Yajusb, and Sáman, for 'the due performance of the facrifice.

24. "He gave being to time and the divisions ' of time, to the stars also, and to the planets, to rivers, oceans, and mountains, to level plains, ' and uneven valleys,

25. To devotion, speech, complacency, defire, and wrath, and to the creation, which ' fhall presently be mentioned; for He willed the ' existence of all thofe created things.

26. For the fake of diftinguishing actions,

• He made a total difference between right and

wrong, and enured thefe fentient creatures to pleasure and pain, cold and heat, and other oppofite pairs.

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27. 'With very minute transformable portions, called mátrás, of the five elements, all "this perceptible world was composed in fit order;

28. And in whatever occupation the fupreme 'Lord first employed any vital foul, to that occupation the fame foul attaches itself sponta

neously, when it receives a new body again and again :

29. "Whatever quality, noxious or innocent, • harsh or mild, unjust or juft, false or true, • He conferred on any being at its creation, the fame quality enters it of course on its future ‹ births;

30. As the fix seasons of the year attain refpectively their peculiar marks in due time. and of their own accord, even fo the feveral acts of each embodied fpirit attend it naturally.

31. That the human race might be multiplied, He caufed the Brábmen, the Chatriya,

the Vaifya, and the Súdra (fo named from thẹ Scripture, protection, wealth, and labour) to pro'ceed from his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and his foot.

32. Having divided his own fubftance, the mighty power became half male, half female,

or nature active and passive; and from that fe'male he produced VIRAJ:

33. 'Know Me, O moft excellent of Bráh" mens, to be that person, whom the male power VIRAJ, having performed auftere devotion, produced by himself; Me, the fecondary framer * of all this visible world.

34. It was I, who, defirous of giving birth ' to a race of men, performed very difficult re⚫ligious duties, and first produced ten Lords of ⚫ created beings, eminent in holiness,

35. MARICHI, ATRI, ANGIRAS, PULASTYA, PULAHA, CRATU, PRACHE TAS, or DACSHA, VASISHT HA, BHRIGU, and NA'RADA: 36. They, abundant in glory, produced feven other Menus, together with deities, and ⚫ the manfions of deities, and Mabarfbis, or great Sages, unlimited in

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power;

Benevolent genii, and fierce giants, blood-thirfty favages, heavenly quirifters, nymphs and demons, huge ferpents and snakes of fmaller fize, birds of mighty wing, and feparate companies of Pitirs, or progenitors of • mankind;

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38. Lightnings and thunder-bolts, clouds • and coloured bows of INDRA, falling meteors, earth-rending vapours, comets, and luminaries ' of various degrees;

39.

Horfe-faced fylvans, apes, fish, and a variety of birds, tame cattle, deer, men, and • ravenous beasts with two rows of teeth;