A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.295.1

c5.295.1

The name Brahmā is not found in the Vedas and Brāhmanas, in which the active creator is known as Hiranya-garbha, Prajāpati, &c.; but there is a curious passage in the Satapatha Brāhmana which says: “He (Brahma, neuter) created the gods. Having created the gods, he placed them in these worlds: in this world Agni, Vāyu in the atmosphere, and Sūrya in the sky.” Two points connected with Brahmā are remarkable. As the father of men he performs the work of procreation by incestuous intercourse with his own daughter, variously named Vāch or Saraswatī (speech), Sandhyā (twilight), Sata-rūpā (the hundred-formed), &c. Secondly, that his powers as creator have been arrogated to the other gods Vishnu and Siva, while Brahmā has been thrown into the shade. In the Aitareya Brāhmana it is said that Prajāpati was in the form of a buck and his daughter was Rohit, a deer. According to the Satapatha Brāhmana and Manu, the supreme soul, the self-existent lord, created the waters and deposited in them a seed, which seed became a golden egg, in which he himself was born as Brahmā, the progenitor of all the worlds. As the waters (*nara*) were “the place of his movement, he (Brahmā) was called Nārāyana.” Here the name Nārāyana is referred distinctly to Brahmā, but it afterwards became the name of Vishnu. The account of the Rāmāyana is that “all was water only, in which the earth was formed. Thence arose Brahmā, the self-existent, with the deities.