Verse 1.37 [Creation of the Semi-divine Beings]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यक्षरक्षः पिशाचांश्च गन्धर्वाप्सरसोऽसुरान् ।
नागान् सर्पान् सुपर्णांश्च पितॄणांश्च पृथग्गणम् ॥ ३७ ॥

yakṣarakṣaḥ piśācāṃśca gandharvāpsaraso'surān |
nāgān sarpān suparṇāṃśca pitṝṇāṃśca pṛthaggaṇam || 37 ||

[They called into being] also Yakṣas, Rakṣasas, Piśācas, Gandharvas, Apsarases, Asuras, Nāgas, Sarpas, Suparṇas, and the several orders of Pitṛs.—(37)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The various forms of the Yakṣa and other beings here mentioned can be known only from the Itihāsas and such other sources; they cannot be known by any of the ordinary means of cognition, perception and the rest.—The ‘Yakṣas’ are the followers of Kuvera;—‘Rākṣasas,’ Bivīṣaṇa and others;—beings more cruel than these last are ‘Piśācas,’ who live in unclean places and in deserts, &c., and are inferior to Yakṣas and Rākṣasas; though all three are mischievous; by trickery they draw out the life of living beings, and by some invisible power they bring about diseases: so say persons knowing the Itihāsas (stories) and Mantra (Incantations).—‘Gandharvas,’ are those followers of the Gods whose chief work consists of singing and dancing;—‘Apsarases,’ the courtezans of the Gods, Urvaśī and the rest;—‘Asuras,’ the Gods’ enemies, Vṛttra, Virocana, Hiraṇyāksa and so forth;—‘Nāgas’ (the Great Serpents), Vāsuki, Takṣaka and the rest;—‘Sarpas’ (Serpents) are well known;—‘Suparnas,’ the great Birds, Garuḍa and the rest;—‘Pitṛs,’ named ‘Somapa,’ ‘Ayyapa’ and so forth, who reside, like Gods, in their own regions; the ‘several orders’ of these also;—all these (the mighty sages) called into being.—(37)

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Pitṛṇām gaṇān’—The ‘pitṛs’ are not actually the ‘fathers,’ as is clear from the present text; they are a particular class of divine beings, though it is from these that human beings are descended. See III, 194—199.