Prajapati

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Brahma as Prajapati with the same iconographical features of Brahma, a statue from Tamil Nadu

Template:Hinduism Prajapati (Template:Langx, Template:IAST3) is a Vedic deity of Hinduism. He is later identified with Brahma, the creator god.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518">Template:Cite book</ref>

Prajapati is a form of the creator-god Brahma, but the name is also the name of many different gods, in many Hindu scriptures, ranging from the creator god Brahma to being the same as one of the following deities: Vishvakarma, Agni, Indra, Daksha, and many others,<ref name="Dalal2010p311" /> because of the diverse Hindu cosmology.<ref name="Williams2008p234" /> In classical and medieval era literature, Prajapati is the metaphysical concept called Brahman as Prajapati-Brahman, and Brahman is the primordial matter that made Prajapati.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EtymologyEdit

Prajapati (Sanskrit: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is a compound of "praja" (creation, procreative powers) and "pati" (lord, master).<ref>Jan Gonda (1982), The Popular Prajāpati Template:Webarchive, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 137-141</ref> The term means "lord of creatures",<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/> or "lord of all born beings".<ref name="JonesRyan2006p332"/> In the later Vedic texts, Prajapati is a distinct Vedic deity, but whose significance diminishes.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/> Later, the term is synonymous with other gods, particularly Brahma.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518"/> Still later, the term evolves to mean any divine, semi-divine or human sages who create something new.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

OriginsEdit

File:Daksha Prajapati Temple, Banapur , Odisha - 8.jpg

A Statue of Brahma as Prajapati at Daksha Prajapati Temple, Banapura, Odisha

File:An attempt to depict the creative activities of Prajapati.jpg

"An attempt to depict the creative activities of Prajapati", a steel engraving from the 1850s.

The origins of Prajapati are unclear. He appears late in the Vedic layer of texts, and the hymns that mention him provide different cosmological theories in different chapters.<ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518"/> He is missing from the Samhita layer of Vedic literature, conceived in the Brahmana layer, states Jan Gonda.<ref name="Gonda1986p2"/> Prajapati is younger than Savitr, and the word was originally an epithet for the sun.<ref name=gonda130>Jan Gonda (1982), The Popular Prajāpati Template:Webarchive, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 129-130</ref> His profile gradually rises in the Vedas, peaking within the Brahmanas.<ref name="Gonda1986p2">Template:Cite book</ref> Scholars such as Renou, Keith and Bhattacharji posit Prajapati originated as an abstract or semi-abstract deity in the later Vedic milieu as speculations evolved from the archaic to more learned speculations.<ref name=gonda130/>

Similar DeitiesEdit

A similarity between Prajapati (and related figures in Hindu mythology) and Phanes, also named as Protogonus (Template:Langx, literally "first-born") of the Greco-Roman mythology has been proposed:<ref>Martin West, Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971: 28-34</ref><ref name=alsobrook20>Kate Alsobrook (2008), "The Beginning of Time: Vedic and Orphic Theogonies and Poetics". M.A. Thesis, Reviewers: James Sickinger, Kathleen Erndl, John Marincola and Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Florida State University, pages 20, 1-5, 24-25, 40-44</ref>

Phanes is the Classical mythology equivalent of the Hindu god Brahma's Prajapati form in several ways: he is the first god born from a cosmic egg, he is the creator of the universe, and in the figure of Phanes— worshippers participate in his birth, death, rebirth, redeath.
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According to Robert Graves, the name of /PRA-JĀ[N]-pati/ ('progeny-potentate') is etymologically equivalent to that of the oracular god Phanes at Colophon (according to Macrobius<ref>Robert Graves : The Greek Myths. 1955. vol. 1, p. 31, sec. 2.2</ref>), namely /prōtogonos/.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The cosmic egg concept linked to Prajapati and Phanes is common in many parts of the world, states David Leeming, which appears in later Greco-Roman worship in Greece and Rome.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

TextsEdit

Prajapati is described in many ways in Hindu texts, both in the Vedas and in the post-Vedic texts. These range from Brahma to being same as one of the following: Agni, Indra, Vishvakarma, Daksha and many others.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

VedasEdit

His role varies within the Vedic texts such as being one who created heaven and earth, all of waters and beings, the creator of the universe, the creator of gods and goddesses, the creator of devas and devis and asuras and asuris and the cosmic egg and the Purusha.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref name="JonesRyan2006p332">Template:Cite book</ref> His role peaked in the Brahmanas layer of Vedic texts, then declined to name a group of creators in the creation process.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/> In some Brahmana texts, his role is paired since he co-creates with the powers of the creator goddess Vac.<ref name="Kinsley1988p12">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Rigveda, Prajapati appears as a name for Savitr, Chandra, Agni and Indra, who are all praised as equal, same and gods of creatures.<ref name= Bhattacharji322>Template:Cite book</ref> Elsewhere, in hymn 10.121 of the Rigveda, is described Hiranyagarbha (golden embryo) that was born from the waters containing everything, which produced Prajapati. It then created manas (mind), kama (desire), tapas (heat) and Prajapati created the universe. And this Prajapati is a creator god who created the universe, one of many Hindu cosmology theories, and there is no supreme god or supreme goddess in the Rigveda.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> One of the striking features about the Hindu Prajapati myths, states Jan Gonda, is the idea that the work of creation is a gradual process, completed in stages of trial and improvement.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Shatapatha Brahmana, embedded inside the Yajurveda, Prajapati was self-created from Brahman (Ultimate Reality) and Prajapati co-creates the world with Vac.<ref name="WilkeMoebus2011p414">Template:Cite book</ref> It also includes the "golden cosmic egg" mythology, wherein Prajapati is stated to be born from a golden egg in primeval sea after the egg was incubated for a year. His sounds became the sky, the earth and the seasons. When he inhaled, he created the devas and devis, and light. When he exhaled, he created the asuras and asuris, and darkness. Then, together with the Vac, he and she created all beings and universe.<ref name="Leeming2010p144">Template:Cite book</ref> In Chapter 10 of the Shatapatha Brahmana, as well as chapter 13 of Pancavimsa Brahmana, is presented another myth where in Prajapati is a creator god, becomes creating with Vac, the creator goddess, all living creatures generated, then Mrtyu seizes these beings within his and her womb, but because these beings are created by Prajapati and Vac, they desire to live like him and her and Prajapati and Vac kill Mrtyu and creates the universe with releasing all living creatures in his and her womb.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Aitareya Brahmana tells a different myth, wherein Prajapati, having created the gods and goddesses, turns into a stag and approaches his daughter with Vac, Ushas who was in the form of a doe, to produce other animals. The gods and goddesses are horrified by this incest, and joined forces and created the angry destructive Rudra to kill Prajapati for doing incest with Ushas and before Prajapati mates with Ushas, Rudra drives Prajapati away. Then Rudra kills Prajapati and Ushas runs away and Prajapati is resurrected.<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/> The Sankhyayana Brahmana tells another myth, wherein Prajapati created Agni, Surya, Chandra, Vayu, Ushas and all deities. Agni, Surya, Chandra, Vayu, Ushas and all deities released their energies and created the universe.<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/>

In section 2.266 of Jaiminiya Brahmana, Prajapati is presented as a spiritual teacher. His student Varuna lives with him for 100 years, studying the art and duties of being the "father-like king of gods and goddesses" and is a king of the gods and goddesses.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

UpanishadsEdit

Prajapati appears in early Upanishads, among the most influential texts in Hinduism.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, pages 3, 279-281; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".</ref> He is described in the Upanishads in diverse ways. For example, in different Upanishads, he is presented as the personification of creative power after Brahman,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the same as the wandering eternal soul,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as symbolism for unmanifest obscure first born,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as manifest procreative sexual powers,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the knower particularly of Atman (soul, self),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and a spiritual teacher that is within each person.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Chandogya Upanishad, as an illustration, presents him as follows:<ref name=olivelle279/>

The self (atman) that is free from evils, free from old age and death, free from sorrow, free from hunger and thirst; the self whose desires and intentions are real – that is the self that you should try to discover, that is the self that you should seek to perceive. When someone discovers that self and perceives it, he obtains all the worlds, and all his desires are fulfilled, so said Prajapati. {{#if:Chandogya Upanishad 8.7.1|{{#if:|}}

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{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}In Chandogya Upanishad 1.2.1, Prajapati appears as the creator of all devas and devis and asuras and asuris: "The gods and goddesses and the demons and demonesses are both children of Prajapati, yet they fought among themselves." (Template:Langx).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Post-Vedic textsEdit

In the Mahabharata, Brahma is declared to be a Prajapati who creates many males and females, and imbues them with desire and anger, the former to drive them into reproducing themselves and the latter to be being like gods and goddesses.<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/> Other chapters of the epics and Puranas declare Vishnu and Shiva to be Prajapatis.<ref name= Bhattacharji322/>

The Bhagavad Gita uses the epithet Prajapati to describe Krishna, the eight incarnation of Vishnu in the Dashavatara of Vishnu along with many other epithets.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Grhyasutras include Prajapati as among the deities invoked during wedding ceremonies and prayed to for blessings of prosperous progeny, and harmony between husband and wife.<ref>Jan Gonda (1982), The Popular Prajāpati Template:Webarchive, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 131-132</ref>

Prajapati is the God of Universe, Fire, Sun, Creation, etc. He is also identified with various mythical progenitors, especially (Manusmriti 1.34) the ten gods of created beings which are first created by Brahma: Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, Daksha, Bhrigu, Narada.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Puranas, there are groups of Prajapatis called Prajapatayah who were rishis (sages) from whom all of the world is created, followed by a Prajapatis list that widely varies in number and name between different texts.<ref name="Dalal2010p311">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Williams2008p234">Template:Cite book</ref> According to George Williams, the inconsistent, varying and evolving Prajapati concept in Hindu mythology reflects the diverse Hindu cosmology.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/>

The Mahabharata and the genre of Puranas call various gods and sages as Prajapati. Some illustrations, states Roshen Dalal, include Agni, Bharata, Shashabindu, Shukra, Havirdhaman, Indra, Kapila, Kshupa, Prithu, Chandra, Svishtakrita, Tvashtra, Vishvakarma, Virana.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/>

In the medieval era texts of Hinduism, Prajapatis refers to legendary agents of creation, gods and sages who are working in creation, who appear in every cycle of creation-maintenance-destruction. Their numbers vary between seven, ten, sixteen or twenty-one at times.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/>

"Prajapati" as a titleEdit

Prajapati is also a title in Hindu cosmology. According to the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, Brahma initially created twenty-one Prajapatis to facilitate the process of creation. <ref>Mani, Vettam (1975). Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 0842608222. Retrieved from Internet Archive on [access date].</ref>

A list of sixteen found in the Mahabharata includesEdit

Shiva
Vaivasvata Manu
Daksha
Bhrigu
Dharma
Tapa
Yama
Marici
Angiras
Atri
Pulastya
Pulaha
Kratu
Vasishtha
Parameshti
Surya
Chandra
Kardama
Krodha
Vikrita
Brahma.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/>

Their creative role varies. Pulaha, for example, is the son of Brahma and Sarasvati and he is a great rishi. As one of the Prajapatis, he creates animals and plants.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Balinese HinduismEdit

Hindu temples in Bali, Indonesia that are dedicated to Brahma as Prajapati are called as Pura Prajapati, also called as Pura Mrajapati, are common. They are mostly associated with funeral rituals and the Ngaben (cremation) ceremony for the dead where Brahma as Prajapati is invoked to preside over the funeral ceremonies happening there.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Prajapati: Hindu Deity, Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Prajapati

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