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

connected, and Brhaspati who is Bráhman (TS. 2, 4, 13, 1). In the version
of the story found in MS. 2, 1, 12 Brhaspati's name does occur: he caused
Indra - the representative of nobility- to lose his fetter by means of the
above sacrificial rite. See also KS. 11, 4: 148, 6.
Over the seventh footprint of the soma cow - that in SB. 3, 3, 1, 16 is
declared to be a manifestation of Väc (sacral speech) 29 - the following
mantra is spoken: ."Brhaspati must de light thee in satisfaction" (TS. 1, 2,
5, 1 b). By these words the officiant is expected to win cattle for his patron
by means of Brá~man, because among the gods Brhaspati is Bráhman
(6, 1, 8, 2). See also SBK. 4, 3, 1, 2 "Brhaspati being Bráhman and satisfaction
(happiness, sumnam) the sacrifice, he thereby says, 'Bráhman
must make thee delight in the good (work, siidhau), the sacrifice!' " 30.
That Prajäpati is expected to give his worshipper not only offspring, but
also cattle is weIl known: ·see, e.g., RV. 10, 169,4; TS. 2, 3, 2, 8 f. The
footprint is a means of coming into coiItact with the one who has impressed
it upon the ground; by touching a cow one may obtain cattle 31.
In a group of formulae used at the dviidasiiha soma sacrifice some complementary
terms - e. g. the past and the future 32 - are associated with
the names of five deities and the wish is expressed to receive, e. g. lordly
power in connexion with Indra' s supremacy; form (riipam, also of human
beings) and colour (varr;tam, also of the skin), which are combined with
Brhaspati's lordship, and a prayer for offspring (TS. 3, 3, 5, 1; cf. 3).
Prajäpati 's name does not occur in these formulae, but the explanation begins
by stating that it was he who created the past and the future (see
above) by means of the viriij.
If the kettle which contains the milk of the agnihotra begins to leak,
the adhvaryu should recite a mantra over it in which Agni, Indra, Tva!?tar
and Brhaspati are said "to have made free from injury the down-flowing
embryo (i.e. the semen)": the sacrificial sub stance to be offered on this
occasion is the semen of the patron (TB. 3, 7, 3, 6; ÄpS. 9, 4, 1; BhS. 9,
5, 22). In ÄsvS. 3, 10, 31 the mantra used on this occasion mentions the
deities Agni, the hotar (cf. SB. 1,4,2,1), Prthivï, Antarik!?am. Since
Agni presides over the earth one might ask oneself, if Antarik!?am stands
for Indra who presides over the intermediate space and a reference to
Sürya, the presiding deity of the heavens - which do occur in a similar
mantra in ÄpS. 9, 18, 12 33 - has been omitted. Is his name in TB. 3, 7,3,
6,replaced by that of Tva!?tar, the god who transforms the emitted semen
(SB. 4, 4, 2, 16 quoting VS. 8,10; cf. also RV. 10, 184, 1)? If so, does
Brhaspati function here as the fourth who eiIcompasses and transeends
the three other deities ? 3'+. This supposition would not seem wholly incom-
29 For väc, sacrificial worship (yajffa), prosperity (pu{Jti) and cattle see below, p.
22; Gonda, PÜ!ilan and Sarasvatï, p. 160.
30 See also Eggeling's note on SBM. 3, 3, I, 2, Sat. Br. translated, I1, p. 59.
31 Gonda, Vedic ritual, p. 84; 98 etc.
32 A.B. Keith's (The Veda of the Black Yajus School, Cambridge Mass. 1914, p.
258) translation of apäm o{Jadhinä,!, garbha,!, dhä~ (cf. I.tV. I, 70, 3 etc.) is incomprehensible
to me; for the deceased and fertility see, e. g. , Meyer, Trilogie,
lIl, p. 323, s. v. Totenseelen.
33 See W. Caland, Das Srautasütra des Äpastamba, II, Amsterdam Acad. 1924, p.
110.
34 On the fourth and his relation to three others see, e. g., T. Organ, in Ohio
Journalof Rel. Studies, 7, p. 7 ff.; H. W. Bodewitz , in Studies in the history
of religions (Supplements to Numen), 45 (Volume D.J. Hoens, 1983), p. 33 ff.
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