अप्सरःसु च मुख्यासु गन्धर्वीणां तनूषु च।
यक्षपन्नगकन्यासु ऋक्षविद्याधरीषु च॥
किन्नरीणां च गात्रेषु वानरीणां तनूषु च।
सृजध्वं हरिरूपेण पुत्रांस्तुल्यपराक्रमान्॥
apsaraḥsu ca mukhyāsu gandharvīṇāṁ tanūṣu ca
yakṣa-pannaga-kanyāsu ṛkṣa-vidyādharīṣu ca
kinnarīṇāṁ ca gātreṣu vānarīṇāṁ tanūṣu ca
sṛjadhvaṁ hari-rūpeṇa putrāṁs tulya-parākramān
apsaraḥsu ca = apsarās; mukhyāsu = from the chief; gandharvīṇām = of gandharvīs; tanūṣu ca = from the bodies; yakṣa-pannaga-kanyāsu = the daughters of yakṣas and birds; ṛkṣa-vidyādharīṣu ca = bears, vidyādharīs; kinnarīṇām = of kinnarīs; ca = and; gātreṣu = from the bodies; vānarīṇām = of female monkeys; tanūṣu = the bodies; ca = and; sṛjadhvam = create; hari-rūpeṇa = in the form of monkeys [and so on]; putrān = sons; tulya-parākramān = equal in prowess to you.
Create sons equal in prowess to you in the forms of monkeys [and so on] from the chief apsarās, from the bodies of gandharvīs, the daughters of yakṣas and birds, bears, vidyādharīs and from the bodies of kinnarīs and female monkeys.
1 This will be described in Rāmāyaṇa 1.36.37.
Since the demigods were cursed by Pārvatī to be unable to produce sons on their own, they were ordered to produce sons from apsarās and so on.1 Mukhyāsu indicates that the chief apsarās were used to obtain sons of good qualities. Since the sons of the demigods were not to be born from wombs and would grow up immediately upon birth, it is stated here that they would be born from the bodies of gandharvīs and so on. Hari-rūpeṇa: Lord Brahmā ordered them to take birth in the form of monkeys in line with Nandikeśvara’s curse:
tasmān mad-rūpa-saṁyuktā mad-vīrya-sama-tejasaḥ
utpatsyanti vadhārthaṁ hi kulasya tava vānarāḥ
“Therefore, monkeys endowed with a form similar to mine and equal in prowess to my heroic strength will be born to kill your dynasty.” (Rāmāyaṇa 7.16.19)
NOTE. In Canto 7, Chapter 16, we will come across a detailed narration of Rāvaṇa’s contempt of Nandikeśvara, Lord Śiva’s devoted attendant, followed by the above-mentioned curse.