The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s3.4

v2.c39.s3.4

The basis of the whole system is the identification of the sacrifice with Prajāpati, who is the creator *par excellence*. The exhaustion of Prajāpati on creation is the exhaustion of the sacrifice: the work of creation is carried out with the aid of the sacrifices of various kinds: the danger to which the creatures whom he creates are exposed from the jealousy of the gods has to be overcome by new sacrifices invented for them, for Agni, the Maruts, even for Varuṇa. As the sacrifice, Prajāpati is all creative, the gods and the Asuras arise from his upgoing and his descending breaths, from him are sprung men, the beasts, the plants and the trees, the minerals as well as the heaven and the earth and the mountains. But, while he is the all-father, still his nature as the sacrifice presents another relationship: he is father of Agni, but as the sacrifice Agni recomposes him and so is his father:¹ and similarly with the gods as a whole. Moreover he is the creator of the sacrifice as well as the sacrifice: he invents rite after rite to aid the gods in their struggles with the Asuras, and he was the first to invent the words used in the sacrifice and its varied forms. Moreover the sacrifice is not only Prajāpati, but, as he is the first to sacrifice, so he is the first victim to be offered.² He gave himself to the gods, and when he did so he created a counterpart of himself in the form of the sacrifice, and thus he redeemed his life from the gods. Yet again, as the first to sacrifice, he is the first to win the reward of sacrifice and to ascend to the sun.³