Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 55
सर्गविभागवर्णनम्
Classification of Creation: the Nine Sargas and the Streams of Beings
पुत्रास्तमोरजःप्राया बलिनस्ते निशाचराः । सर्पा यक्षास्तथा भूता गंधर्वाः संप्रजज्ञिरे । वयांसि पक्षतः सृष्टाः पक्षिणो वक्षसो ऽसृजत् । मुखतोजांस्तथा पार्श्वादुरगांश्च विनिर्ममे
putrāstamorajaḥprāyā balinaste niśācarāḥ | sarpā yakṣāstathā bhūtā gaṃdharvāḥ saṃprajajñire | vayāṃsi pakṣataḥ sṛṣṭāḥ pakṣiṇo vakṣaso 'sṛjat | mukhatojāṃstathā pārśvāduragāṃśca vinirmame
त्याचे पुत्र तम-रजप्रधान, बलवान आणि निशाचर होते. सर्प, यक्ष, भूत तसेच गंधर्वही उत्पन्न झाले. पंखांतून पक्षी सृष्ट झाले; वक्षस्थळातून पंखधारी प्राणी निर्माण झाले. मुखातून मनुष्य घडले आणि पार्श्वभागातून उरग (सर्पाकार)ही निर्मिले गेले.
Narratorial voice within the Purāṇic account (speaker not specified in the supplied excerpt)
Tattva Level: pasha
Cosmic Event: population of the cosmos with tamas/rajas-dominant classes (niśācara, bhūta, yakṣa, etc.)
FAQs
In Sāṃkhya-influenced Purāṇic idiom, tamas and rajas are guṇas (fundamental modalities of prakṛti). To say certain beings are ‘predominantly’ tamas/rajas is not merely moral judgment but a cosmological classification: it situates forms of life within a spectrum of consciousness and activity. The verse thus frames diversity of beings as expressions of the guṇas, while still remaining within a devotional worldview in which all creatures arise within a sacred, ordered creation.