The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Adi Parva
Religion
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Adi Parva
Epic literature, Sanskrit
"'And Brahman had another son named Manu. And Manu had a son of the name of
Prajapati. And the sons of Prajapati were eight and were called Vasus whom
I shall name in detail. They were Dhara, Dhruva, Soma, Aha, Anila, Anala,
Pratyusha, and Prabhasa. These eight are known as the Vasus. Of these,
Dhara and the truth-knowing Dhruva were born of Dhumra; Chandramas (Soma)
and Swasana (Anila) were born of the intelligent Swasa; Aha was the son of
Rata; and Hutasana (Anala) of Sandilya; and Pratyusha and Prabhasa were
the sons of Prabhata. And Dhara had two sons, Dravina and Huta-havya-vaha.
And the son of Dhruva is the illustrious Kala (Time), the destroyer of the
worlds. And Soma's son is the resplendent Varchas. And Varchas begot upon
his wife Manohara two sons--Sisira, and Ramana. And the sons of Aha were
Jyotih, Sama, Santa, and also Muni. And the son of Agni is the handsome
Kumara born in a forest of reeds. And, he is also called Kartikeya because
he was reared by Krittika and others. And, after Kartikeya, there were
born his three brothers Sakha, Visakha, Naigameya. And the wife of Anila
is Siva, and Siva's son were Manojava and Avijnataagati. These two were
the sons of Anila. The son of Pratyusha, you must know, is the Rishi named
Devala; and Devala had two sons who were both exceedingly forgiving and of
great mental power. And the sister of Vrihaspati, the first of women,
uttering the sacred truth, engaged in ascetic penances, roamed over the
whole earth; and she became the wife of Prabhasa, the eighth Vasu. And she
brought forth the illustrious Viswakarman, the founder of all arts. And he
was the originator of a thousand arts, the engineer of the immortals, the
maker of all kinds of ornaments, and the first of artists. And he it was
who constructed the celestial cars of the gods, and mankind are enabled to
live in consequence of the inventions of that illustrious one. And he is
worshipped, for that reason, by men. And he is eternal and immutable, this
Viswakarman.
"'And the illustrious Dharma, the dispenser of all happiness, assuming a
human countenance, came out through the right breast of Brahman. And
Ahasta (Dharma) hath three excellent sons capable of charming every
creature. And they are Sama, Kama, Harsha (Peace, Desire, and Joy). And by
their energy they are supporting the worlds. And the wife of Kama is Rati,
of Sama is Prapti; and the wife of Harsha is Nanda. And upon them, indeed,
are the worlds made to depend.
"'And the son of Marichi is Kasyapa. And Kasyapa's offspring are the gods
and the Asuras. And, therefore, is Kasyapa, the Father of the worlds. And
Tvashtri, of the form of Vadava (a mare), became the wife of Savitri. And
she gave birth, in the skies, to two greatly fortunate twins, the Aswins.
And, O king, the sons of Aditi are twelve with Indra heading them all. And
the youngest of them all was Vishnu upon whom the worlds depend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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