Vedic Mythology c5.s4.18

c5.s4.18

In the first verse of RV. 10, 121 the supreme god is referred to as Hiraṇyagarbha, the ‘Germ of Gold’, the one lord of what exists. This is the only occurrence of the name in the RV., but it is mentioned several times in the AV. and the literature of the Brāhmaṇa period (cp. p. 13). Hiraṇyagarbha is also alluded to in a passage of the AV. (4, 2⁸) where it is stated that the waters produced an embryo, which as it was being born, was enveloped in a golden covering. In the TS. (5, 5, 1²) Hiraṇyagarbha is expressly identified with Prajāpati. In the later literature he is chiefly a designation of the personal Brahmā⁸.