ORIENTAL SERIES.

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BRAHMA.
the ether ; from him -was descended MarichI ; the son of Marichi
From Kasyapa sprang Vivas wat, and Mann is
was Kasyapa.
declared to have "been Vivaswat's son." A later recension of
this poem alters this passage so as to make Brahma a mere
manifestation of Vishnu. Instead of " Brahma, the self-exis-
tent, with the deities," it substitutes for the last three words,
"the imperishable Vishnu." The Vishnu Purana says that the
" divine Brahma called Narayana created all beings," that Pra-
japati "had formerly, at the commencement of the (previous)
kalpas, taken the shape of a fish, a tortoise, &c., (so now),
entering the body of a boar, the lord of creatures entered the
water." But this "lord of creatures" is
clearly shown to b'e
Vishnu, and these three forms, the fish, the tortoise, and the boar,
are now counted among the Avataras of Vishnu. (See Avatara.)
This attribution of the form of a boar to Brahma (Prajapati)
had been before made by the Satapatha Brahmana, which also
says, " Having assumed the form of a tortoise, Prajapati created
offspring." The Linga Purana is quite exceptional among the
later works in ascribing the boar form to Brahma. The Maha-
bharata represents Brahma as springing from the navel of
Vishnu or from a lotus which grew thereout ; hence he is called
ISTabhi-ja,
c
'
navel-born ;' Kanja, the lotus ;' Sarojin, 'having a
lotus;' Abja-ja, Abja-yoni, and Kanja-ja, (
lotus-born.' This
is, of course, the view taken by
the Vaishnavas. The same
statement appears in the Eamayana, although this poem gives
Brahma a
Brahma as
more prominent place than usual It represents
informing Rama of his divinity, and of his calling
him to heaven in " 1 '
the glory of Vishnu.
He bestowed boons
on Kama while that hero was on earth, and he extended his
favours also to Kavana and other Bakshasas who were descen-
dants of his son Pulastya, In the Puranas also he appears as a
patron of the enemies of the gods, and it was by his favour that
the Daitya King Bali obtained that almost universal dominion
which required the incarnation of Vishnu as the dwarf to repress.
He is further represented in the Kamayana as the creator of the
beautiful Ahalya, whom he gave as wife to the sage Gautama.
Brahma, being thus inferior to Vishnu, is represented as giving
homage and praise to Vishnu himself and to his form Krishna,
but the Vaishnava authorities make him superior to Eudra,
who, they say, sprang from his forehead. The Saiva authorities