ORIENTAL SERIES.

fliranya-kasipu.
PRAJA-PA TI-PRAKRITA. 239
After the death of his father, Prahlada be-
came king of the Daityas and dwelt in Patala ; but, according
to the Padraa Purana, he was raised to the rank of Indra for
life, and finally united with Vishnu. The Padma Purana
carries the story farther back to a previous birth. In this pre-
vious existence Prahlada was a Brahman named Soma-sarman,
fifth son of Siva-sarman. His four brothers died and obtained
union with Vishnu, and he desired to follow them.
To accomplish
this he engaged in profound meditation, but he
allowed himself to be disturbed by an alarm of the Daityas, and
so was born again as one of them. He took the part of his
race in the war between them and the gods, and was killed by
the discus of Vishnu, after that he was again born as son of
Hiranya-kasipu.
PRAJA-PATL 'Lord of creatures/ a progenitor, creator.
In the Veda the term is applied to Indra, Savitri, Soma, Hir-
anya-garbha, and other deities. In Mann the term is applied to
Brahma as the active creator and supporter of the universe so
Brahma is the Praja-pati. It is also given to Manu Swayam-
bhuva himself, as the son of Brahma and as the secondary
creator of the ten JS/shis, or "mind-born sons" of Brahma, from
whom mankind has descended It is to these ten sages, as
fathers of the human race, that the name Praja-pati most com-
monly is given. They are Marlchi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya^
Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishftia, Prachetas or Daksha, Bhrigu, and
Narada, According to some authorities the Praja-patis are only
seven in number, being identical with the seven great JZishis.
(See jRishi.) The number and names of the Praja-patis vary in
different authorities : the Maha-bharata makes twenty- one.
PRAKA5AS. Messengers of Vish/m, also called Vish?iu-
dutas.
PRAELBITA. The Prakrits are provincial dialects of the
Sanskrit, exhibiting more or less deterioration from the original
language ; and they occupy an intermediate position between
that language and the modern vernaculars of India, very similar
to that of the Romance languages between the Latin and the
modern languages of Europe. They resemble the European
have in them a small
languages also in another respect : they
proportion of words which have not been affiliated on the original
classical language, and are apparently remnants of a different