Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c32.2

v4.c32.2

THE history of Brahmā has incidentally been given here and there in the first volume of this work as also in a previous portion of the present one. It has already been stated that Brahmā was born in a golden egg and was therefore known as Hiraṇyagarbha; that he sprang from the waters and the ether; that he took the form of a boar and lifted up the earth from the ocean; that he took the avatār of a fish; that he was born from the lotus that issued from the navel of Viṣṇu; that he was the father of Dakṣa and other Prajāpatis (patriarchs), that he disputed the superiority of Viṣṇu over himself and that when, in connection with the dispute, Śiva appeared between them in the form of a pillar of fire, he (Brahmā) went up to search for its upper end and failed to do so; that he was born to the ṛishi Atri and his wife Anasūya as one of the aspects of Dattātrēya; that he served as a charioteer of Śiva when the latter attacked the Tripurāsuras; and that he acted as purōhita (officiating priest) in the marriage of Śiva and also of Subrahmaṇya; and many other things have also been mentioned about him.