Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 40
Nine Creations (Sarga), Guṇa-Streams of Beings, and Brahmā’s Progeny in Cyclic Time
उत्ससर्जासुरान् सृष्ट्वा तां तनुं पुरुषोत्तमः / सा चोत्सृष्टा तनुस्तेन सद्यो रात्रिरजायत / सा तमोबहुला यस्मात् प्रजास्तस्यांस्वपन्त्यतः
utsasarjāsurān sṛṣṭvā tāṃ tanuṃ puruṣottamaḥ / sā cotsṛṣṭā tanustena sadyo rātrirajāyata / sā tamobahulā yasmāt prajāstasyāṃsvapantyataḥ
Sau khi phóng sinh các A-tu-la, Đấng Tối Thượng liền bỏ thân ấy; ngay khi thân ấy được Ngài rũ bỏ, Đêm liền sinh khởi. Vì Đêm dày đặc bóng tối, nên muôn loài chìm vào giấc ngủ trong đó.
Sūta (narrating the cosmogony as received in the Purāṇic tradition)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
FAQs
It presents Puruṣottama as the transcendent source who can project and withdraw forms; the changing “body” and the arising of night indicate that manifested states belong to prakṛti/guṇas, while the Supreme remains the originating Lord beyond them.
No direct sādhana is prescribed, but the verse gives a yogic cue: sleep and inertness arise from tamas. In Kurma Purana’s broader teaching, sādhana aims at reducing tamas (through discipline, purity, and meditation) so awareness is not overpowered by darkness.
Here the creator is named Puruṣottama (Vishnu-language), yet the cosmology functions as a shared Purāṇic framework later used in the Kurma Purana to harmonize Shaiva-Vaishnava theology—one Supreme Lord expressed through multiple divine idioms.