The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c14.47

v1.c14.47

Like the gods, men came into being by creation: seemingly they must be considered as included among the offspring of the universal parents, sky and earth. But there are other versions of their parentage: one account makes them the offspring of Manu, son of Vivasvant, the first of sacrificers and the first of men.¹⁰ Another and famous version makes them sprung from Yama, Vivasvant's son, and his sister Yamī, a legend of which the Avesta preserves a record also.¹ Yet in another passage² the Gandharva and the heavenly maiden are described as the parents of the twins, in place, we must assume, of Vivasvant. Agni is father of men and in particular the Aṅgirases claim descent from him, and other families likewise boast of origin from individual gods: Vasiṣṭha claims birth from Mitra and Varuṇa jointly through their love for the nymph Urvaçī.³ In the Puruṣasūkta, again, quite a different account is found in the derivation of the four castes as wholes from the offering of Puruṣa by the gods. Like the gods too, man was not originally immortal, but, when the gods learned by sacrifice the path to immortality, men would have followed it, had not it been ordained to please the lord of death that men should be forbidden immortality save through laying aside their own bodies.⁴ To this differentiation of gods from men corresponds the fact also recorded by a Brāhmaṇa that the gods at one time used to come in their bodily presence among men, but had ceased to do so.⁵