Prajapati's relations with Brahman, Brhaspati and Brahma - DWC

vision,ary wisdom) by (through, because of) his mind (Spirit),,7 (mánasä
hl dhïrah: remember that at BÄU. 4, 1,6 and ChU. 7, 3, 1 man as is identified
wÜh Brahman and that Prajäpati is of ten associated or even identified
with this concept 8 • In TS. 4, 2, 5, 2 (a mantra) visvakarmä is either
an epithet of Prajäpati, indicating a special aspect, or a second name, or
an addition showing that both figures are actually the same. In TB. 1, 1,
1, 5 the first creator is said to be Visvakarman, "the one who puts together
or makes ready" (sa'Jlkrtq and also Brhaspati "the attentive or
experienced one" (cikitvän). In SvU. 4, 17 the one supreme God is given
the name or epithet of Visvakarman, in 4, 2 he is identified with Brahman,
the (primaeval) waters and Prajäpati (cf. VS. 32,1; MNU. 14)9.
In the brähmaJ}.as Visvakarman and Prajäpati are not infrequently names
of the same deity 10: cf. AiB . 4, 22, 9 "af ter having emitted (created)
creatures (offspring) Prajäpati became Visvakarman. Visvakarman is the
year ... ; verily thus they obtain Prajäpati, the year, Visvakarman .,. "11;
MS. 1, 3, 35: 42,4; KS. 39, 4: 122, 10 visvakarmä disä'Jl paW) prajäpaW)
sa na~ pasün pätu; SB. 7,4,2,5; 8,2,1,10; 8,2,3,13; 9,4,1,12;
see also VS. 12, 61 12 . It is of course possible to translate visvakarman
as an epithet: TB. 3, 7, 9, 7 prajäpatir visvakarmä "Prajäpati is the creator
of all things" (Dumont). In the Mahäbhärata Visvakarman is the same
divine figure as Svayambhü, i.e. Brahmä (3,114,17), but also one of
the seeondary Prajäpatts 13 (1, 60, 27 ff.).
Väyu, Wind, must in prehistorie times have been a deity of greater importanee
than in the histrieal period 14; in MS. 2, 5, 1: 47, 16 he is said
to be not only the swiftest of the gods, but also the oji~tha~ "the one
who is to the highe st degree eharaeterized by authority (and so on),,15.
Some stray notes point to his relations with Bráhman: aecording to SB.
11, 2, 3, 1 he was created by Brahman whieh in the beginning was this
universe ; he is on equal footing with Bráhman in that a sacrifieer may
attain to eo-existenee in his world (SBK. 1, 6, 4, 9; cf. SBM. 11, 4, 4,
6); in BÄU. 3, 7, 2 he is the thread whieh ties together this world, the
ot her world and all beings: cf. , e. g., 3, 6 in fine; SB. 8, 4, 1, 3; in SvU .
4, 2 the one immanent God is said to be (represented by) Väyu, Brahman,
Prajäpati and, it is true, some other deities ; aeeording to KenaU. 27 (4,
2) Agni, Väyu and Indra "touehed Brahman closest" .
The stanza TS. 3, 1, 4, 2 f. quoted in BhS. 7, 12,6; ÄpS. 7, 12, 10 is
possibly a pieee of evidenee of co-operation of Väyu and Prajäpati: when
7 Not "treu dem eignen Ratschlusz" (Deussen) or "wise in his intellect (Edgerton);
seeGonda, ThevisionoftheVedicpoets, p. 215; andin WZKSA 27, p.19.
8 I refer to my article The creator and his spirit (Manas and Prajäpati), in WZKSA
27 (1983), p. 5 ff.
9 On the relation between Brahmä and Visvakarman in the epic period see references
in Hopkins, Epic mythology, p. 194.
10 But elsewhere (cf. TS. 5, 7, 5, 3) Visvakarman, Paramefithin and Prajäpati are
unmistakably different divine figures.
11 Cf. Gonda, Prajäpati and the year, p. 5; 34 etc.
12 For VifiQU as a heir of Prajäpati-Visvakarman 's functions see Gonda, Aspects of
early VifiQuism, p. 88 f.
13 Seebelow,p.8.
14 See Gonda, Dual deities , p. 221 ff.
15 For the difficult word ojas see J. Gonda, Ancient-Indian ojas ..• , Utrecht 1952.
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