Vedic Mythology c7.s4.5

c7.s4.5

In the later Saṃhitās the tortoise is raised to a semi-divine position as ‘lord of waters’ (VS. 13, 31)⁹, or, as Kaśyapa, often appears beside or identical with Prajāpati in the AV., where he receives the epithet *svayambhū*, ‘self-existent’ (AV. 19, 53¹⁰)¹⁰. In the AB. (8, 21¹⁰) the earth is said to have been promised to Kaśyapa by Viśvakarman. In the ŚB. Prajāpati is described as changing himself into a tortoise (7, 4, 3⁵), in which form he produced all creatures (7, 5, 1¹)¹¹. This assumed form of the creator became in post-Vedic mythology the tortoise incarnation of Viṣṇu¹². In the TS. (2, 6, 3³) the sacrificial cake (*puroḍāśa*) is said to become a tortoise.