Shloka 16
Nine Creations (Sarga), Guṇa-Streams of Beings, and Brahmā’s Progeny in Cyclic Time
तथोर्ध्वस्त्रोतसां षष्ठो देवसर्गस्तु स स्मृतः / ततोर्ऽवाक्स्त्रोतसां सर्गः सप्तमः स तु मानुषः
tathordhvastrotasāṃ ṣaṣṭho devasargastu sa smṛtaḥ / tator'vākstrotasāṃ sargaḥ saptamaḥ sa tu mānuṣaḥ
Demikian, di antara makhluk yang arusnya mengalir ke atas, ciptaan keenam dikenang sebagai ciptaan para dewa. Lalu, di antara yang arusnya mengalir ke bawah, ciptaan ketujuh adalah ciptaan manusia.
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator in the creation-account context, traditionally Sūta reporting the teaching of the sages)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
Indirectly: it classifies embodied life into orders (devas and humans) based on the “direction of the current” (strotas), implying that the same indwelling Self is present across graded embodiments, while karmic and guṇic conditions shape the type of birth.
No specific practice is prescribed in this verse; it provides a cosmological framework often used in the Kurma Purana to motivate sādhanā—humans (mānuṣa-sarga) are positioned as capable of dharma, vrata, and yoga disciplines (including later Pāśupata-oriented devotion and meditation) to transcend conditioned embodiment.
It does not name Śiva or Viṣṇu explicitly, but it supports the Purāṇa’s synthetic theology by presenting creation as an ordered, sacred hierarchy in which divine and human realms function within one cosmic system governed by the Supreme—later identified in the text through Śiva-Viṣṇu non-contradiction.