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

ni~ad from Brahmán, which is svaya'1'bhu ("which has come to exist of its
self"). See also SB. 14, 5, 5, 22 (BÄU. 2, 6, 3); 14, 7, 3, 28 (BÄU. 4, 6,
3) where Parame~thin is said to have received the teaching from Bráhman
(n.), which is said to be svayambhu. But in MNU. 531 this word and Brahmä,
followed by Prajäpati's namë, are masculine. On the other hand, the
tendency to distinguish a superior ruler or Supreme Being from Bráhman
is for instance already attested to in SvetU. 5, 1.,5. The fact that Bráhman
was usually considered to be sarvam idam and Prajäpati was regarded as
sarvam may have been one of the factors contributing to its development.
For a right understanding of AVS. 4, 11 (AVP. 3, 25), which praises the
draught-ox, it must be recalled.,6 that, according to the Cülikä Up . .,7, the
Atharvavedins proclaim one God in various shapes or under various names,
viz. the brahmacärin (A VS. 11, 5), the skambha or frame of creation (10,
7 and 8), the sun (13, 1; 2; 3), the Puru~a (19, 6), the Ïsvara (19, 6, 4),
Prajäpati (4, 2), the draught-ox (4, 11). Those who recognize this God,
who is Bráhman and who is also the draught-ox, as the Highest , will eventua!ly
be absorbed in him (CülU. 21). This explains the difficult stanza
A VS. 4, 11, 7 (not in AVP.): "(The draught-ox) is Indra by form (remember
Indra's bull-like nature: cf. st. 2 (AVP. 3); RV. 1, 173, 8; 6,45,22;
6, 46, 4 etc.); Agni by carrying (vahena; Agni is· the god who carries lhe
oblations to the gods: havyavah or -vähana).,8, Prajäpati Parame~thin"9,
Viräj. The subject of st. 7 cd "in '" Vaisvänara he gained a footing, in
the draught-ox; he made firm, he sustained" must be the Highest Being.
The meaning of st. 11 seems to be: "Twelve, indeed, they decIare (to be)
these days of the vrata (observance) of Prajäpati; (but) who knows the
Bráhman under them so , (knows that) that verily is the observance of the
draught-ox" 51. Since twelve is the number of the days of a Prajäpati vrata
and of the dUqlä (i.e. the preparation for ritual rebirth; cf. e.g. TS. 5,
6, 7, 1) and the draught-ox is Prajäpati (st. 7), the religious observance
(cf. st. 2 and 6) required for a successful performance of the rite (the
draught-ox sava, see Kesava, on Kaus. 64-66) must continue for twelve
days, on the understanding that the sacrificer is aware of the fundamental
transcendent power (bráhman) inherent in the rite. Brahman is one in nature
with Prajäpati and manifests itself as the ox. So this text is another
attempt at gaining an insight into the nature of the powers and potencies
that sustain heaven and earth (st. 1), provide the living beings with food
and guarantee the continuation of life and so on, and that by means of a
eulogy upon an animal that, sustainiiig the component parts of the universe ,
is a manifestation of Bráhman-Prajäpati.
In accordance with an atharvanic tendency to interpret socio-religious customs
and ceremonies as events of universal import or manifestations of funda-
45 See e.g. R.e. Zaehner, The Bhagavad-gïtä, Oxford 1969, p. 9; 37 ; 231.
46 I refer to J. Gonda, A note on A V. 4, 11 , in Studies in Indology I, Mem. Vol.
Umesha Mishra, Allahabad 1967, p . 1 ff. (= Selected Studies, Leiden 1975,111,
p. 434 ff.).
47 See P. Deussen , Sechzig Upanishad's des Veda, Leipzig 31921 (Darmstadt 1963),
p. 637 ff.
48 "The ox was of old born as a draught (animal) " , SB. 13,2,1,4.
49 Gonda, Parame!?thin (see n. 10 above) , p. 455 f.
50 tátrópa , not "auf sie" (Deussen, Allg. Geschichte der Philosophie 1,1, p. 233);
Whitney-Lanman, op. eit., p. 166 preferred "within them".
51 See Gonda, The Savayajfias, p. 97 f.; 298 f.
48