The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s1.2

c19.s1.2

Such was, however, not his position, when the concrete concept about him and gods allied to him began to take shape and develop in some of the late Vedic texts. Many sections of this literature contain passages about creation, and the creator is described there by various names like Viśvakarman, Brahmaṇaspati, Hiraṇyagarbha, Prajāpati, Brahma and Brahmā. Viśvakarman is characterised in the 81st and 82nd hymns of the tenth maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda; in the first of them he is described as the one god who has produced the sky and earth and shaped them with his hands (Saṃ bāhubhyāṃ dhamati saṃ patatrair dyāvā-bhūmiṃ janayan devaḥ ekaḥ). Brahmaṇaspati, another god of allied nature, is said to have shaped all these (created things) like a blacksmith (R.V., X. 72, 2: Brahmaṇaspatir-eta saṃ karmāraḥ ivādhamat). Hiraṇyagarbha is assumed to have been the first to be born, and is said to have established the earth and the sky in their proper position (ibid., X. 121, 1). In the last verse of the same hymn Prajāpati is described as the lord of all the created beings. In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (XI. 2, 3, 1) Brahma (neuter) is said to have existed alone in the beginning and to have been the creator of the gods and the original source of all things. Another passage of the same text (X. 6, 5, 9), tells us that Prajāpati originated from Brahma who is self-existent (Prajāpatir-Brahmaṇaḥ, Brahma svayambhū). Both these gods along with Puruṣa Nārāyaṇa are described in the different sections of this Brāhmaṇa as having sacrificed themselves for acquiring superiority over gods, men and all created things. Prajāpati is also the supporter (bharataḥ) of this universe, a function invariably assigned to Viṣṇu in the epic and Purāṇic literature. The same god is also identified in some passages with the presiding deity of sacrifice with which Viṣṇu is also identified in one passage of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (III. 2, 2, 4; XIV. 1, 1, 6). The more concrete concept of Brahmā took some time to develop and one of the earliest allusions to this god is to be found in the first verse of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. He is described there as the first of the gods, who was the creator of the universe and the preserver of the world (Brahmā devānāṃ prathamaḥ sambabhūva viśvasya kartā bhuvanasya goptā). Lastly, we find in the first canto of the Manusamhitā how the irresistible self-existent (svayambhū) Lord was born in the golden egg (haimam aṇḍam) as Brahmā, the progenitor of all the worlds (tasmin jajñe svayaṃ Brahmā sarvalokapitāmahaḥ). It is also interesting to note that the appellation Nārāyaṇa is applied in this context to Brahmā and not to Viṣṇu. There is no doubt that this part of the great Smṛti text is based on passages of the much older texts like the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and others in which it is said how Prajāpati assumed the forms of fish, tortoise and boar for the attainment of particular ends.