Text 48]
The Activities of the Pracetās
1549
PURPORT
The daughter of the trees is referred to in text thirteen of this chapter. This daughter was born of Kaṇḍu and Pramlocā. The society girl Pramlocā, after giving birth to the child, immediately left for the heavenly kingdom. While the child was crying, the King of the moon took compassion upon her and saved her by putting his finger into her mouth. This child was cared for by the trees, and when she grew up, by the order of Lord Brahmā, she was delivered to the Pracetās as their wife. The name of the girl was Māriṣā, as the next verse will explain. It was the predominating deity of the trees that delivered the daughter. In this connection Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda states,  vṛkṣāḥ tad-adhiṣṭhātṛ-devatāḥ : “The ‘trees’ means the controlling deity of those trees.” In Vedic literatures we find that there is a controlling deity of the water; similarly, there is a controlling deity of the trees. The Pracetās were engaged in burning all the trees to ashes, and they considered the trees their enemies. To pacify the Pracetās, the predominating deity of the trees, under the advice of Lord Brahmā, delivered the daughter Māriṣā.
TEXT 48
ते च ब्रह्मण आदेशान्मारिषामुपयेमिरे ।
यस्यां महदवज्ञानादजन्यजनयोनिजः ॥४८॥
te ca brahmaṇa ādeśān māriṣām upayemire yasyām mahad-avajñānād ajany ajana-yonijaḥ
te —all the Pracetās;  ca —also;  brahmaṇaḥ —of Lord Brahmā;  ādeśāt —by the order;  māriṣām —Māriṣā;  upayemire —married;  yasyām —in whom;  mahat —to a great personality;  avajñānāt —on account of disrespect;  ajani —took birth;  ajana-yoni-jaḥ —the son of Lord Brahmā, Dakṣa.
TRANSLATION
Following the order of Lord Brahmā, all the Pracetās accepted the girl as their wife. From the womb of this girl, the son of Lord Brahmā named Dakṣa took birth. Dakṣa had to take birth in the womb of Māriṣā due to his disobeying and disrespecting Lord Mahādeva [Śiva]. Consequently he had to give up his body twice.