Prajapati

From New World Encyclopedia

In Hinduism, Prajapati (Devanagari: प्रजापति) is the "Lord of Offspring" or the "Lord of Creatures", which is evident in his name, derived from the Sanskrit compound of praja ("creatures") and pati ("lord"). As such, he is in close communication with Nature, which revolves around him, and he rules over the myriad sentient beings that walk the earth. Iconographically, he often pictured with animals of all varieties. In earlier Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas, he is conceived of as a creator of the universe and therefore father of the gods, and assumes the role of the supreme monarch over the rest of the Vedic pantheon. His connection with such creative powers as ascetic heat, the cosmic egg, and the verbal power of the priesthood afforded Prajapati immense significance within Vedic sacrificial rituals. However, in the post-Vedic period as Hindu religion became more internalized and his mythology was absorbed into that of other creation gods, Prajapati largely fell out of currency.

Origins

Prajapati is thought to be depicted on ancient Harappan seals found by archaeologists in the region where the Indus Valley Civilization. This seal depicts an ithyphallic male figure with what appear to be bison horns sitting in yogic posture surrounded by an assortment of animals. The aroused nature of the diety suggests his connection with fertility, much like Prajapati as well as later Hindu deities associated with the tumescent phallus such as Rudra and the god for which he served as the prototype, Shiva. His animal companions suggests an obvious connection with creatures. In addition, the yogic posture suggests Prajapati's later association with asceticism. The presence of hundreds of what appear to be shivalinga discovered amid the ruins of Harappan cities and villages located in the Indus Valley Civilization in what is today known as Pakistan would seem to reinforce the identification of this deity with Rudra-Shiva. This connection is hardly surprising, considering the fact that Rudra-Shiva himself is often referred to as "the lord of creatures" in later Hinduism.

Prajapati and other dieties

Due to his status as a supreme creator god, Prajapati becomes connected with a number of other important gods in the Vedic pantheon, including Vayu (god of the wind), Varuna (one time supreme god of the Vedic pantheon), Vac (the all-important goddess of speech) and his daughters, the Usas (the dawn). However, no connection was as important as that which was made in the Brahmanas between he and Purusha, the primordial cosmic man who in Rg Veda 10.90 is credited with a great self-sacrifice in order to bring the world into being. Like Purusha, Prajpati is said to have sacrificed himself, resulting in the various divisions of empirical reality. Most importantly, his constituents became brahman, the sacred verbal power which mitigates the cleavage between human beings and the divin, and consequently became the lynchpin of all Vedic sacrifice in its potential to bring together humanity, deity, and the physical world. The remainder of Prajapati's constituents dispersed to create gods, humans, animals and the rest of the phenomenal world. Thus, Prajapati gained his intial significance in the sacrificial drama. The Vedas insisted humans must must repeat this original primordial sacrificial event regularly in order to renew all aspects of space and time that Prajapati put into place by way of his self-immolation.

Ritual Significance

Prajapati's importance in ritual is attested to by his identification with Agni, the fire god central who was absolutely central to Vedic rituals. By identifying Agni as Prajpati, the latter became central to the Vedic ritual known as the Agnicayana, the ritual of fire. The installation of the fire at the central altar ensured the reconstitution of the universe. This year-long procedure established the world as a five layered altar with fire at its heart, represented the atman or the soul. Agni was not only the soul of Prajpati but also the soul of the human being performing his sacrifice, hence the duality of human and god was temporarily dissolved during the fire ritual. Similarly, in the Vajapeya, the performer of the rite would consume the intoxicating soma beverage in hopes of experiencing the mystical totality of Prajapati. By realizing correspondence between the human soul and Prajpati in the Agnicayana and the Vajapeya, the sacrificer was thought to be able to escape perpetual death within the cosmic cylce, an idea which seems prototypical of the notion which would develop in the Upanishads where the atman is said to be equivalent to Brahman, the monistic essence of being and non-being which permeates the entire universe.

Function

While Prajapati was seen as a supreme creator god, he must be differentiated from other supreme deities in the Vedic pantheon. Unlike gods such as Varuna and Indra, who represented distinct personalities and embodied complex mythologies which described their reign over the other gods, Prajapati was more of an intellectual abstraction than a god. Like Time (or Kala), Prajapati is more accurately thought of as the source of all being, rather than an anthropomorphic creator.[1]

As the lord of creatures, Prajapati was thought of as keeper and caregiver not only of humans but also of animals. Prajapati's connection with animals was evident by way of the numerous animals which were connected to him in both written and visual depictions. One myth identifies him with the primordial boar, Emusa, which descends into the earth in order to procure a prototype of the earth-world. He is also connected to the bird and the tortoise, animals which were of great importance during the Agnicayana ritual, and later came to connect with the preserver god Vishnu as Garuda and Kurma, respectively. Additionally, Prajpati is linked to goats, bulls, cows, horses, stags, and ants, among other noble creatures.

Prajapati was also though to hold jurisdiction over human and animal reproduction, which is not surprising if he is indeed linked to the ithyphallic Indus valley deity pictured on the Harrapan seals. In Rg Veda 10.121, the creation of the universe by way of the primordial "golden germ" or hiranyagarbha is described. In the process, Prajapati is described as the "fiery seed" which acts within the cosmic waters in order to trigger creation. This seems to bolster Prajapati's connection to tapas, or the ascetic heat. These images of Prajapati as the hot, active force in connection with the great egg of the cosmos continued on in the Atharva Veda and the Grhyasutras, texts which would become manuals for various rites of reproduction and child-rearing, including marriage, impregnation, birth, feeding and teething. Prajpati has also been included among the male figures surrounded by feminine powers in Hindu gestation symbolism.

Legacy

As the post-Vedic Hindu religion became more focused upon intuitive spirituality as opposed to the grandiose public sacrifices of the Vedas, Prajapati's significance waned. The creator god Brahma came to absorb much of Prajapati's character and function, such as his connection with the golden egg of creation, and eventually supplanted him in importance. As it happened, the Prajpatis, a group or community of seven to ten creation gods, came to thought of as Brahma's sons who assisted him in fashioning the universe. Prajapati also seems to have had some influence upon the character of Rudra, who himself was labelled Pashupati, meaning "lord of the cattle", a lordship which was was extended to all animals of the wild.

Notes

  1. Embree, 23.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Embree, Ainslee T. ed. The Hindu Tradition. New York: Vintage Books, 1966. ISBN 0-394-71702-3
  • Gonda, J. Prajapati's Relations With Brahman, Brhaspati and Brahma. Elsevier Science & Technology, 1989. ISBN 978-0444856951
  • Gonda, J.Prajapati's Rise to Higher Rank. Brill Academic Publishers, 1997. ISBN 978-9004077348
  • Gonda, J. Prajapati and the Year. North-Holland, 1984. ISBN 978-0444855947
  • Gonda, J. "The Popular Prajapati." In History of Religions 22 (1982): 129-149.
  • Knipe, David M. "Prajapati". Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Mercia Eliade. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1987. ISBN 0029098505

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