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

I
Introduction
In this publication lintend to describe and, within the limits of possibility,
to explain the relations that existed between the Vedic god Prajäpati,
whose name occurs already in the ~gveda-Sarphitä, on the one
hand and the Bráhman concept, as wen as the personal gods Brh~spati
"the Lord of brh, i. e. Bráhman", and the 'personification' Brahmä, who
plays no part in the oldest texts and is no figure of considerable prominence
in the younger Veda, on the other. On these points the handbooks
of the history of Vedic or Indian religion give no more than meagre information
1. Sometimes this information is not even exact or very felicitously
worded 2 • It is not always clearly stated that or whether or how
far part of Prajäpati's functi9ns were transferred to the impersonal Bráhman
and then also to Brahmä and other gods 3 or that his name, like the
names of Brhaspati and HiraI].yagarbha\ who in the brähmaI].as and the
earlier upanil?ads are independent divine figures, of ten - but not always,
it is true - came to denote the god BrahmiP. Even in Bailey's recent book
1 For instance, Macdonell, Vedic Mythology; H. Oldenberg, Die Weltanschauung
der Brähma1',la-Texte, Göttingen 1919; Keith, Religion and philosophy are al most
silent on these relations and the relevant problems.
2 H. v. Glasenapp, Die Religionen Indiens, Stuttgart 1943, p. 143, mentions only the
transference of the legends (sic) of the creator of the world, Hira1',lyagarbha and
Prajäpati to Brahmä; the opinion expressed in L. Renou (and J. Filliozat), L'lnde
classique , I, Paris 1947, p. 337 : Prajäpati, "a product of learned speculation" is
misleading (see Gonda, The popular Prajäpati); p. 329 read: Prajäpati, "maître de
la postérité" instead of the printer's error" ... prospérité"; A.L. Basham , The
wonde.r that was India, Londen 21956, p. 240: By the end of the ~gvedic period
... a creator-god, Prajäpati had developed, whether wholly from the speculations
of the brahmans or from non-Aryan influence": ?; M. Eliade, Histoire des croyances
et des idées religieuses, I, Paris, 1976, p. 240: "Prajäpati ... une création de
la spéculation savante ... (qui) prolonge Puru~a"; D.M. Knipe, in Encycl. of ReL,
XI, New York 1986, p. 476: "the supreme being and fat her of the gods". _
3 For Vi~1',lu as a heir of part of Prajäpati's functions and as fusing with him see
Gonda, Aspects of early Vi~1',luism, p. 24; 78; 88; UO. Already in ~V. 10, 184,1
Prajäpati is associated with Vi~1',lu, and in VS. 31, 22 Sri and Lak~mï are the consorts
of Puru~a-Prajäpati in the form of the sun.
4 I refer to J. Gonda, Background and variants of the Hira1',lyagarbha concept ion ,
in Studies in Indo-Asian art and culture, 111, Comm. vol. Raghuvira, New Delhi
1974, p. 39. . .
5 Identifications of deities or important figures and so on that are supposed to
have a quality, function or trait of character in common are far from rare: for
instance, in A VS. 11, 5, 16 (AVP. 16, 154, 6) the highly exalted brahmacärin
("one cultivating bráhman") is said to be Prajäpati, who as sovereign (viräj)
became the ruling Indra.