A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.295.2

c5.295.2

He then, becoming a boar, raised up the earth and created the whole world with the saints, his sons. Brahmā, eternal and perpetually undecaying, sprang from the ether; from him was descended Marīchi; the son of Marīchi was Kasyapa. From Kasyapa sprang Vivaswat, and Manu is declared to have been Vivaswat's son.” A later recension of this poem alters this passage so as to make Brahmā a mere manifestation of Vishnu. Instead of “Brahmā, the self-existent, with the deities,” it substitutes for the last three words, “the imperishable Vishnu.” The Vishnu Purāna says that the “divine Brahmā called Nārāyana created all beings,” that Prajāpati “had formerly, at the commencement of the (previous) kalpas, taken the shape of a fish, a tortoise, &c., (so now), entering the body of a boar, the lord of creatures entered the water.” But this “lord of creatures” is clearly shown to be Vishnu, and these three forms, the fish, the tortoise, and the boar, are now counted among the Avatāras of Vishnu. (See Avatāra.) This attribution of the form of a boar to Brahmā (Prajāpati) had been before made by the Satapatha Brāhmana, which also says, “Having assumed the form of a tortoise, Prajāpati created offspring.” The Linga Purāna is quite exceptional among the later works in ascribing the boar form to Brahmā. The Mahābhārata represents Brahmā as springing from the navel of Vishnu or from a lotus which grew thereout;