'
"Yudhishthira said, 'O holy one, O thou possessed of the wealth of
asceticism, who was this _Daitya_ of great energy? Whose son and whose
grandson was he? I desire to know all this; O thou possessed of the
wealth of asceticism I never heard of this mighty _Daitya_ before. I
desire to know all this truly, O holy one, and with all particulars in
detail, O thou of great wisdom and ascetic wealth!'
"Markandeya said, 'O monarch, know everything as it happened, O ruler of
men, as I narrate the particulars truly, O thou of great wisdom! When
the world became one broad expanse of water and creatures mobile and
immobile were destroyed, when, O bull of the Bharata race, the entire
creation came to its end. He who is the Source and Creator of the
Universe, viz., the Eternal and unfading Vishnu, He who is called by
_Munis_ crowned with ascetic success as the Supreme Lord of the
Universe, that Being of great holiness, then lay in _Yoga_ sleep on the
wide hood of the Snake Sesha of immeasurable energy, and the Creator of
the Universe, that highly-blessed and holy Hari, knowing no
deterioration, lay on the hood of that Snake encircling the whole Earth
and as the Deity lay asleep on that bed, a lotus, endued with great
beauty and effulgence equal unto that of the Sun, sprang from his navel.
And from that lotus possessed of effulgence like unto the Sun's, sprang
the Grandsire _Brahma_, that lord of the worlds who is the four _Vedas_,
who hath four forms and four faces, who is invincible in consequence of
his own energy and who is endued with mighty strength and great prowess
and as the Lord Hari of wondrous frame, possessed of great lustre and
decked with a crown and the _Kaustubha_ gem and attired in purple silk,
lay stretched for many a _yojana_ on that excellent bed furnished by the
hood of the snake itself extending far and wide, blazing, O king, in his
beauty and the lustre of his own body like a thousand Suns concentrated
in one mass.
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