The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c38.33

v2.c38.33

Viçvakarman, ‘all-maker’, is another synonym of Prajāpati, and has two hymns⁵ of the tenth book devoted to his honour: they add, however, comparatively little to our appreciation of the beginnings of Vedic thought: but we find here the tendency which is found in Indian conceptions to insist that the creator, who is self-created, is not merely the material cause, but also the efficient cause of the world. The process, therefore, by which the world emerges from the unity at its base assumes a decidedly curious aspect: there is first the unity, which may be conceived as a creator god: then, derived from it, the waters or other primeval substance: then the god appears in the waters as a spirit to bring about the development of the universe. This triad of first principle, primitive matter, and the first-born of creation, is carried out mythologically in an interesting hymn to Brahmaṇaspati,¹ in which we learn of Dakṣa as father of Aditi and also her son, an absurdity in which the philosophic basis is clearly that of the conception of the three stages of creation.