Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c13.196

c13.196

Change among gods.—Ad hoc mythology has grown, but the influence of the gods is declining due to a twofold cause. on the one hand, prayers and ritual acts are increasingly regarded potent ‘en soi’; on the other, the priestly tendency to discover underlying identities has led to the clear recognition of a supreme deity, usually called Prajāpati and often given an impersonal turn by being identified with Yajña.¹⁶² Both in the Mīmāṃsā which followed the former line of thought and in the Vedānta, which evolved partly at least from out of the latter, “gods” play quite a subordinate role. The one makes the Word the source of all power,¹⁶³ the other an impersonal Absolute.