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to the sectarian character of the Purana.
Mythologico-Philosophical Theory
In this theory both the mythological and the philoso-
From the formless, the
phical accounts are intermingled.
purusa who is Para, avyakta and Aksara is born. Prakrti is
apara and ksara. From that the waters are created, from the
waters a purusa is manifested, from him a lotus emerged and
lord Brahma energed from it. The earth, Vayu, casa, Apah
and Jyoti were created before Brahma. Here it should be
noted that the first creator and lord Brahma are considered to
be separate. The divine speech then ordained Brahma to create
the whole world. Brahma started performing a sacrifice and
recited the purusasukta. The Brahmins were created from his
mouth, the ksatriyas from hands, Indra from mouth, Agni from
breath, the directions from ears, heaven from the head, Moon
from the heart, Sun from the eyes, Antariksa from the navel,
the Vaisyas from the thighs, the Sudras from the feet, the Rsis
from the pores, the osadhis from hair, the wild animals from
nails, insects from anus, and the mobile and immobile and the
seen and the unseen worlds are created from him as well as from
lord Brahma (161.42-50). Thus mythological and theosophic notio-
ns inherited from the vedic period have been combined with
notions of later origin and together they gave rise to
Puranic cosmology.
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