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

and "born, was the sole lord of what existed" established, according to
RV. 10, 121, 1, "the earth and this heaven". In SB. 6, 2, 2, 5 this primaeval
being is identified with Prajäpati, just as may be suggested by the no
doubt later stanza !.tV. 10, 121, 10, which is not found in the padapätha
tradition of the !.tgveda. In Mbh. 12, 326, 47 HiraI:tyagarbha is a name of .
Brahmä. In the version preserved in Manu 1, 5 ff. the original darkness
was dispelled by Svayambhü who, desiring to produce beings of many kinds,
first created, by the power of his ment al concentration, the waters and
placed his seed (bïjam) in them. This seed became a golden egg. In that
egg he himself was born as Brahmä, the grandfather (progenitor),of the
whole world. In st. 10 he is also named NäräyaI).a. - According to SB. 11,
1, 6, 1 f. Prajäpati was produced from the primaeval golden egg, in Mbh.
1, 130 it is the Grandfather the sole Lord also called Prajäpati, Brahmä
who came from this primordial egg. Here Prajäpati and Brahmä have completely
fused.
Elsewhere, however, Prajäpati and Brahmä are different divine persons .
Attention may, for in stance , be drawn to some laudatory enumerations or
enumerative identifications of divine names. Whereas in the identifications
of SvU. 4, 2 Prajäpati (the great encompassing god) still occupies a place
of honour (af ter Agni ... , Brahmä, the Waters), this is not the case in the
identifications of the - comparatively late - MaiU. 5, 1 which begins with
Brahmä 16, followed by Vil?I).U, and Rudra and consigns Prajäpati to the
fourth place, reserving the last (14th) place for Acyuta "the Firm or Permanent
One". In 6, 8 and 7, 7, identifying (the) Ätman with some deities,
the fifth place is given to Prajäpati. The last four names occurring in a
series of parallel statements (TU. 2, 8, 1) are those of Indra, Brhaspati,
Prajäpati, and Brahmä. - In KB U. 1, 5 Indra and Prajäpati figure as the
doorkeepers of the Brahmaloka (see above). - In a well-known Buddhist
enumeration of Brahmä 's epithets beginning of course with the name of this
god - followed by Mahäbrahmä - and ending with "Fat her of things present
and fut ure " , the name of Prajäpati does not occur l7 :
TarpaI).a, i.e. the satiation of deities , sages etc. by presenting to them
libations of water, is also a constituent of the daily recitation of the Veda.
On that occasion one satiaties, after reciting, Prajäpati, Brahmä, the Vedas,
the gods, the r~is (in this order) and so on (ÄsvG. 3, 4,1 ff.)18.
See also places such as MärkPur. 34, 95 "he should make the first offering
to Brahmä, then one to Prajäpati, the third to the Guhyas, etc.".
Others have already called attention to a case of 'transference' of a mythical
theme or, at least, of a mythical motif 19. Whereas according to AiB. 3,
33 ff. 20 Prajäpati had changed into a stag in order to have intercourse with
his daughter the Sky or U l?as 21 , who had become a doe, and on this occasion
his semen was spilt so as to turn into a lake, in the epic version of this
mythical story (Mbh. 13, 84, 1-19) it is Brahmä's semen that is thrown on
16 Bhattacharji, op. eit. , p. 337 erroneously speaks of the neuter Brahman.
17 See J. Masson, La religion populaire dans Ie Canon bouddhique päli, Louvain
1942, p. 56.
18 I also refer to Gonda, Notes on Brahman, p. 63.
19
20
See Bailey, Brahmä, p. 64.
For a translation see also W. D. 0 'Flaherty, Hindu myths, Harmondsworth 1975,
p. 30. See also W. Caland, Over en uit het Jaiminïya-BrähmaQa, Amsterdam
Acad. 1914, p. 47 f.
21 See also S. Bhattacharji, in ABORI 64 (1983), p. 211.
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