e created Consciousness
along with the Mind,--Consciousness which is the refuge of all created
things. That Consciousness upholds all creatures and both the past and
the future. After that great Being, O mighty-armed one, viz.,
Consciousness, had sprung, an exceedingly beautiful lotus, possessed of
effulgence like the Sun's, grew out of the navel of the Supreme Being
(floating on the waters). Then, O son, the illustrious and divine
Brahman, the Grandsire of all creatures, sprang into existence from that
lotus, irradiating all the points of the horizon with his effulgence.
After the high-souled Grandsire had, O mighty-armed one, thus sprung from
the primeval lotus, a great Asura of the name of Madhu, having no
beginning, started into birth, springing from the attribute of Darkness
(Tamas). The foremost of all Beings, (viz., the Supreme Divinity), for
benefiting Brahman, slew that fierce Asura of fierce deeds, engaged even
then in the fierce act (of slaying the Grand-sire). From this slaughter,
O son, (of the Asura named Madhu), all the gods and the Danavas and men
came to call that foremost of all righteous persons by the name of
Madhusudana (slayer of Madhu).[704] After this, Brahman created, by a
fiat of his will, seven sons with Daksha completing the tale. They were
Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, (and the already
mentioned Daksha). The eldest born, viz., Marichi, begat, by a fiat of
his will, a son named Kasyapa, full of energy and the foremost of all
persons conversant with Brahma. From his toe, Brahman had, even before
the birth of Marichi, created a son. That son, O chief of Bharata's race,
was Daksha, the progenitor of creatures.[705] Unto Daksha were first born
three and ten daughters, O Bharata, the eldest of whom was called Diti.
Marichi's son Kasyapa, O sire, who was conversant with all duties and
their distinctions, who was of righteous deeds and great fame, became the
husband of those thirteen daughters. The highly-blessed Daksha (besides
the three and ten already spoken of) next begat ten other daughters. The
progenitor of creatures, viz., the righteous Daksha, bestowed these upon
Dharma. Dharma became father of the Vasus, the Rudras of immeasurable
energy, the Viswedevas, the Sadhyas, and the Maruts, O Bharata. Daksha
next begat seven and twenty other younger daughters. The highly-blessed
Soma became the husband of them all. The other wives of Kasyapa gave
birth to Gandharvas, horses, birds