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

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Visvakarman and Vayu
Passing mention may first be made of Visvakarman 1 , who, - incautiously
regarded as Prajäpati's double 2 - besides BrahmaI)aspati and other deities
figures as an of ten more or less independent demiurge ("making everything").
Though being in different times and different (popular, ritualistic
, or philosophical) circles of the Aryan society no doubt not always
recognized as an able or important deity, he represented, for the same
reason and in the same way, an ancient effort to express the idea of a
unique god. In ~V. 10, 81, in which he is eulogized, the cosmic creation
is not only compared to the work of a smith and a carpenter, but also
to a sacrificial rite (remember that Prajäpati is regarded as the one who
produced the sacrifice, SB. 13, 1, 1, 4 and that he was the arch-sacrificer);
in 8, 98, 2 Visvakarman is identical with Indra (cf. VS. 8, 45 and
46; SB. 4, 6, 4, 6). The description of his person, in ~V. 10,81,3 "with
eyes, face, arms and feet in all directions", reminds us of the well-known
four-faced Brahmä of later times. In st. 7 of the same'hymn he is described
as Väcaspati "Lord of (sacred) Speech", a name that at TS. 1, 8, 10, 1
is given to Brhaspati and in SB. 5, 1, 1, 16 quoting VS. 9, 1 to Prajäpati
(cf. also Mahïdhara on VS.); in 10, 82, 2 as Dhätar j, who in the later
period is an equivalent of Brahmä or Prajäpati and as Vidhätar "the Disposer,
Ordainer" '\ who later is of ten also mentioned together with Dhätar
and likewise fuses with Brahmä; he is known as the One (st. 2 and
6; cf., e. g. , ~V. 10, 129, 2; 3, later of ten used to characterize Bráhman 5;
cf. , e. g. , BÄ U. 3, 9, 9) and as "the first embryo which the waters bore"
(~V. 10, 82, 6): compare the accounts of the cosmogony according to
whi~h the waters produced a (golden) embryo (e.g. ~V, 10, 121, 7;
A VS. 4, 2, 8), which at TS. 5, 5, 1, 2 is expressly identified with Prajäpati
6 • In ~V. 10, 82, 1 Visvakarman is said to be "wise (possessed of
1 Macdonell, Vedic Myth010gy, p. 118; P. Deussen , Allgemeine Geschichte der Phi-
10sophie, I ,I, ~Leipzig 1920, p. 134 ff . ; F. Edgerton, The beginnings of Indian
philosophy, London 1965, p. 61f.; Renou, E.V.P., XV, p. 167 ff.; Bhattacharji,
The Indian theogony, p. 320 ff.; the same, in ABORI 54 (Poona 1983), p. 208 ;
Gonda , Aspects of ear1y Vi~l]uism, p. 88. Compare , e. g . , a1so E. Dammann, Die
Religionen Afrikas, Stuttgart 1963, p. 83.
2 Renou, L'Inde c1assique, I, p. 329.
3 The god who p1aces, establishes , founds, gives things their right p1ace.
4 See a1so Bailey, B rahmä, p. 141.
5 "Pré1ude au bráhman neutre des temps u1térieurs", Renou, E. V . P. XV, p. 170.
6 See Gonda, Hiral]yagarbha conception (see n. 1,4 above).
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