Prajapati Daksa’s Birth and Prayers

Chapter 4

When Maharaja Pariksit enquired about secondary creation (visarga), Sukadeva Goswami resumed the narration of the Pracetas, who had concluded 10,000 years of austerities. When they emerged from the water and saw the landscape overgrown with trees, they angrily prepared to burn them all down. []

Soma, the moon-god, pacified the Pracetas and explained how crucial the trees are to life on earth. He then recommended that they marry Marisa, the daughter of Pramaloca, who was raised by the trees. From the union of the Pracetas and Marisa, Prajapati Daksa was born. As an expert progenitor, he filled the three worlds with many different species of life, but discovered that the population was still not sufficiently increasing.

To resolve the issue, Daksa entered the Vindhya mountains and offered the famous Hamsa-guhya prayers to attract Vishnu’s mercy. Pleased with the prayers, the Lord appeared in His eight-armed form, confirmed His supremacy and promised to assist the progenitor to complete his task. He thus introduced Daksa to Asikni, the daughter of Prajapati Pancajana, who would be a suitable partner to beget many children.