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

the military prowess" 8. This explanation of the divine figure is as untenable
as the widespread conviction that Prajäpati is a comparatively 'young'
god and essentially a product of ritualistic or theological speculation 9.
Dne should not, however, overlook the many Vedic passages in which
Brhaspati's name 10 is associated with bráhman, the untranslatable name of
a fundamental power concept ll • Attention may especially be invited to the
following places. The god is of ten stated to be (represent) , among the
gOds 12 , bráhman (bráhma vai devano.p brhaspáti1): (that is why a mantra
containing the gOd's name is to be used to repair mistakes etc. in sacrificing)
TS.1, 5, 4, 3; 1, 7,1,5 (oranofferingtohimcanbemadebythose
who pursue malevolent purposes by means of bráhman) 2, 2, 9, 1; 3, 1, 1,
4; (or one wishes to win food by means of Bráhman) 5, 6, 2, 6; 5, 6, 3, 3;
5, 6, 5, 2; 6, 1, 2, 3 13 ; 6, 1, 8, 2; (or to secure catUe) 6, 3, 6, 2; 6, 5, 8,
3; 6,6,5,2; TB. 1,8, 1, 1; 1,8,6,4; see also 2, 5, 7,4; 3,2,2,8; RV.
2, 23, 1. - Elsewhere Brhaspati is briefly 'identified' with Bráhman: T S·.
2, 4, 13, 1; 5, 3, 4, 4; MS. 2, 1, 7: 9, 5 (after "Sarasvatï is Väc"); 2, 2,
3: 16, lOl"; 3,6,4: 64,6; 3,6,8: 71, 17; 3,9,6: 123,16; 4, 1, 2: 4,3;
4,3,8: 47, 7; 4,3,9: 48,16; 4,4,7: 58,6; 4,7,8: 103,14; 4,8,6: 114,
4; KS. 11, 4: 147, 15; 13,4: 183, 16; 23, 2: 75,6; 23,5: 80, 1; 29,4: 172,
17; 29,8: 176, 10; 29,9: 178, 15; TB. 1,8,6,4; AiB. 1, 19, 1; 2, 38, 9;
4, 11, 1; JB. 2, 230; SB. 3, 1, 4, 15; 3, 7, 3, 13; 3, 9, 1, 11; 5, 1, 1, 11;
8 Joshi, op. cit., p. 108. - Nor should one say (as Saraswati Bali, op. cit., p. 12
does) that "Tval?tä, the Prajäpati, created him (Brhaspati) as the highest of all
beings, whence he became the reciter of the sämans": here Tval?tä is not identified
with Prajäpati, or, as sometimes in later texts, regarded as a Prajäpati, although
it is true that he is, in important respects, a god of cognate activity.
Moreover , the text states that Tval?tar created Brhaspati out of all beings (as
their quintessence, see Geldner, Der Rig-Veda, I, p. 305) and out of every
säman.
9 For an attempt to refute this explanation see Gonda, in Hist. of rel., 22, p. 129
ff.
10 The identity of the names Brhaspati and BrahmaQaspati ("Lord of Bráhman") is
beyond dispute: cf., e.g., ~V. 2, 23, 2; 3; 4; 6; 8; 13 Brhaspati and 1; 5; 9;
17 BrahmaQaspati. See, e.g., also Macdonell, Vedic mythology, p. 101 f.; M.
BIoomfield, The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-BrähmaQa, Strassburg 1899, p.
34; 74; 117; H.P. Schmidt, Brhaspati und Indra, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 1 translating
the second name as "Herr des Kultgedichtes" which "definiert ihn deutlich
als Gottheit des Priestertums". But "Kultgedicht" is only one of the contextual
meanings of bráhman (see my Notes, quoted above). Nor should we follow S.
Bhattacharji, The Indian theogony, p. 318 in distinguishing Brhaspati as "an
abstraction of priesthood" from BrahmaQaspati as "an abstraction of prayer".
11 The following enumeration is not meant to be exhaustive. Other texts will be
quoted in the following pages.
12 Rather than "of the gods" (as preferred by A.B. Keith in his translations of
Vedic texts and others).
13 In a note on this place (why here, or only here?) Keith, The Vedaofthe Black
Yajus School, p. 486 expresses the opinion that bráhman "here must have the
sense of 'spiritual power' vaguely conceived" (elsewhere he prefers 'holy power')
and that "there is no doubt a play also on the fact that Brhaspati is the brahman
priest of the gods". In my opinion, there is no play on words and both
Brhaspati and the brahmán rep re sent , each in his own way, the idea expressed
by the root brh- (found in both words brh and Brahman, on which see my Notes
on Brahman quoted above and Die Religionen Indiens, 12, Index, S. 396).
14 Bhattacharji, Theogony, p. 336 incorrectly translates "Brahman (n.) is BrahmaQaspati"
.
12