A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.45

c11.45

The place of the more personal Prajāpati is taken in the Upanishads by the Ātman as a creative power. Thus the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka* (I. iv.) relates that in the beginning the Ātman or the Brahma was this universe. It was afraid in its loneliness and felt no pleasure. Desiring a second being, it became man and woman, whence the human race was produced. It then proceeded to produce male and female animals in a similar way; finally creating water, fire, the gods, and so forth. The author then proceeds in a more exalted strain:—