Vedic Mythology c5.s4.14

c5.s4.14

Prajāpati occurs in one passage of the RV. (4, 53²) as an epithet of Savitṛ, who is spoken of as a supporter of heaven and *prajāpati* of the world², and in another, as an epithet of Soma compared with Tvaṣṭṛ and Indra (9, 5⁹). Otherwise the word is found four times as the name of a distinct deity, always in the tenth book. The god Prajāpati is invoked (10, 85⁴³) to bestow abundant offspring (*prajām*), is besought, along with Viṣṇu, Tvaṣṭṛ, and Dhātṛ, to grant offspring (10, 184¹), and is spoken of as making cows prolific (10, 169⁴). As a protector of generation and living beings Prajāpati is also often invoked in the AV.³ In the one hymn devoted to his praise in the RV. (10, 121), he is invoked by this name only in the last verse. In this hymn he is celebrated as the creator of heaven and earth, of the waters and of all that lives; who was born (*jāta*) as the one lord (*pati*) of all that is, the one king of all that breathes and moves, the one god above the gods; whose ordinances all beings and the gods follow; who established heaven and earth; who traverses space in the atmosphere; who embraces with his arms the whole world and all creatures. Here Prajāpati is clearly the name of the supreme god. Though only mentioned once in the RV. in this sense, he is commonly in the AV. and VS., and regularly in the Brāhmaṇas, recognized as the chief god. He is the father of the gods, (ŚB. 11, 1, 6¹⁴; TB. 8, 1, 3⁴ &c.), having existed alone in the beginning (ŚB. 2 2, 4¹). He created the Asuras as well (TB. 2, 2, 2³)⁴. He is also described as the first sacrificer (ŚB. 2, 4, 4¹; 6, 2, 3¹). In the Sūtras Prajāpati is identified with Brahmā (AGS. 3, 4, &c.). In the place of this chief god of the later Vedic theology, the philosophy of the Upaniṣads put the impersonal Brahma, the universal soul or the Absolute.