Chapter 17
Vaishampayana said, “After all the troops had been slain during the hourof sleep by those three car-warriors, king Yudhishthira in great griefsaid these words unto him of Dasharha’s race: How, O Krishna, could mysons, all of whom were mighty car-warriors, be slaughtered by the sinfuland wretched Ashvatthama of no great skill in battle? How also couldDrona’s son slay the children of Drupada, all of whom were accomplishedin weapons, possessed of great prowess, and capable of battling withhundreds of thousands of foes? How could he slay that foremost ofcar-warriors, Dhrishtadyumna, before whom the great bowman Drona himselfcould not appear? What act was done by the preceptor’s son, O bull amongmen, in consequence of which he succeeded in slaying, single-handed, allour men in battle?’
The holy one said, “Verily, Drona’s son had sought the aid of thathighest of all the gods, the eternal Mahadeva. It was for this that hesucceeded in slaying, single-handed, so large a number of warriors. IfMahadeva be gratified, he can bestow even immortality. Girisha can givesuch valour as will succeed in checking Indra himself. I know Mahadevatruly, O bull of Bharata’s race! I know also his various acts of old. He,O Bharata, is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all creatures.This entire universe acts and moves through his energy.
The puissant Grandsire, desirous of creating living creatures, saw Rudra;and the Grandsire asked him, saying, “Create living creatures withoutdelay!” Thus asked, Rudra of tawny locks, saying, “So be it!” plungedinto the water and practised austerities for a long time, inasmuch as hewas sensible of the defects of living creatures. Having waited inexpectation of Rudra for a very long time, the Grandsire, by a fiat ofhis will, invoked into existence another being for making him the creatorof all kinds of living things. Beholding Girisha plunged into the waters,this (second) being said unto his sire, “If there be no being born beforeme, then I will create living creatures!” His sire replied unto him,saying, “There is no other first-born being besides thee! This Sthanu hasplunged into the water! Go and create living creatures, without anyanxiety!”
That being then created many living creatures, having Daksha for theirfirst, who created all these creatures of four kinds. As soon, however,as they were created, they ran O king, towards their sire, afflicted withhunger and desirous of devouring him. The second being whom Brahma hadcreated, thereupon ran towards him, desirous of protection from his ownoffspring. And he said unto the Grandsire, “O illustrious one, protect mefrom these, and let these creatures have their food assigned unto them!”Then the Grandsire assigned herbs and plants and other vegetables astheir food, and unto those that were strong he assigned the weakercreatures as the means of sustenance. Their sustenance having been thusassigned, the newly-created creatures all went away to regions theydesired, and cheerfully multiplied by union with their respective species.
After the creatures had multiplied and the Grandsire had become wellpleased, the first-born rose from the water and beheld the livingcreation. He saw that diverse kinds of creatures had been created andthat they had multiplied by their own energy. At this sight, Rudra becameangry and caused his procreative limb to disappear in the bowels of theEarth. The unfading Brahma, soothing him by soft words, said unto him, “OSharva, what wert thou doing so long within the water? For what reason,also hast thou caused thy limb of generation to disappear in the bowelsof the Earth?” Thus questioned, that lord of the universe wrathfullyanswered the lord Brahman, “Somebody else has created all thesecreatures! What purpose then would be served by this limb of mine? I haveby my austerities, O Grandsire, created food for all these creatures.These herbs and plants also will multiply like those that will subsistupon them!” Having said these words, Bhava went away, in cheerlessnessand rage, to the foot of the Menjavat mountains for practising severerausterities.”
