Shloka 58
सर्गभेदाः — अविद्या, स्रोतोभेदाः, नव सर्गाः, देवासुरादिसृष्टिः, वेद-यज्ञप्रादुर्भावः
ततः पुनः ससर्जादौ स कल्पस्य पितामहः यक्षान् पिशाचान् गन्धर्वान् तथैवाप्सरसां गणान्
tataḥ punaḥ sasarjādau sa kalpasya pitāmahaḥ yakṣān piśācān gandharvān tathaivāpsarasāṃ gaṇān
Then again, at the dawn of creation, that Grandfather of the age (Brahmā) brought forth in due order the Yakṣas, the Piśācas, the Gandharvas, and likewise the hosts of the Apsarases.
Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Enumeration of created classes at the beginning of the kalpa
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Creation Stage: Secondary
Concept: At the kalpa’s commencement, distinct non-human orders (yakṣa, piśāca, gandharva, apsaras) arise in sequence, showing creation as a structured taxonomy rather than random emergence.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Contemplate the world’s diversity as intelligible and ordered; practice reverence and restraint toward seen and unseen beings.
Vishishtadvaita: Multiplicity of sentient and semi-divine beings is affirmed as real within the one cosmos sustained by the Supreme.
Vishnu Form: Narayana
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
This verse places them within the structured categories of created beings, showing that even semi-divine and liminal classes arise as part of an ordered cosmic manifestation, not by chance.
By using “punaḥ” (again) and “kalpasya” (of the kalpa), Parāśara frames creation as cyclical—repeated at the start of each aeon—where Brahmā re-manifests classes of beings in sequence.
Though Brahmā is named as creator, the Vishnu Purana’s theology treats such creation as functioning within Viṣṇu’s supreme order—Viṣṇu as the ultimate ground enabling the cosmos and its recurring cycles.