Manava Dharmashastra 1.10

1.10

yaḥ kutracinnārāyaṇaśabdena kartṛjñātṛśaktyatiśayayogena jagatkāraṇapuruṣatayā''gameṣvāmnātaḥ, so'yameva | na śabdabhedādarthabhedaḥ | brahmā nārāyaṇo maheśvara ityeka evārtho nopāsanākarmatayā bhidyate | tathā ca dvādaśe darśayiṣyāmaḥ | yathā caitattathocyate | āpo narā ityanena śabdena proktāḥ | nanu nāyaṃ vṛddhavyavahāro'tha ca na tathā prasiddho'ta āha āpo vai narasūnavaḥ | sa tāvad bhagavānnaraḥ puruṣa iti prasiddhaḥ | āpaśca tasya sūnavo'patyāni | atastā naraśabdenocyante | dṛṣṭo hi pitṛśabdo'patye, vasiṣṭhasyāpatyāni vasiṣṭhā bhṛgorapatyāni bhṛgavaḥ tathā aśmaṇḍulomaka ityādyabhedopacāreṇa | tā āpo naraśabdavācyāḥ | yat yena prakāreṇa asya prajāpateḥ pūrvamayanaṃ prathamasarga āśrayo vā garbhasthasya, tena hetunā nārāyaṇaḥ smṛtaḥ | narā ayanamasyeti narāyaṇa iti prāpte 'anyeṣāmapi dṛśyate' (pā0 sū0 6|

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The Being just described is the same who, here and there in the scriptures, is described under the name ‘Nārāyaṇa,’ as possessed of a superior degree of creative and cognitive powers, and hence being the Personal Creator of the world; the mere difference in names does not necessarily imply difference in the things denoted; so that the Beings described under the names ‘Brahmā,’ ‘Nārāyana’ and ‘Maheśvara are one and the same; though they form the objects of diverse forms of worship, yet they do not differ among themselves; as we shall show under Discourse XII.

How this is (i.e. how Brahmā is the same as ‘Nārāyana’) is explained now:—‘Water is called Nara.’—described under the name of,—‘Nara.’

In answer to the objection—“There is no such usage current among experienced persons; nor is it generally known that water is called Nara,”—the Author adds:—‘Water being the offspring of Nara,’—the supreme Being (Hiraṇyagarbha, described in verse 8 as having created water) might well be known under the name ‘Nara,’ Person; and water is his ‘offspring;’ hence water is spoken of as ‘Nara,’ the name of the father is often applied to the child, e.g., the ‘sons of Vaśiṣṭha,’ the revered sages Tāvabhru, Maṇḍu and Lomaka, are spoken of as ‘Vaśiṣṭhāḥ’; and such usage is based upon the

figurative identification of the child with the father.—‘Since’ because—‘Water,’ known as ‘Nara,’ was ‘the first thing created by’—or it was his container when he lay in the womb (egg)—‘he is, on that account, described as Nārāyaṇa.’

In the sense of ‘he whose container is Nara’the compound should be ‘narāyaṇa;’ but the first vowel may be taken as lengthened according to Pāṇini’s Sūtra 6.3.134, which justifies such lengthening in several other cases also,; just as we have in the word ‘pūruṣa’ (which is a variant for ‘puruṣa’);—or we may have the lengthening due to the affix ‘aṇ’ in the sense of ‘mass’ [so that nāra would be ‘mass of water,’ and ‘he who has this mass of water as his container, ayana,’ would he ‘nārāyaṇa’]. (10).