Indian Antiquary Vol 57

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 80

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
April, 1928
Kenopanishat, 3, 2: lad dhaisham vijajñau tebhyo ha prádurbabhava tan na vyajdnuanta kim
idam yaksham iti 11 It (Brahman) became aware of (this thought of) theirs; it manifested itself before them. They did not know (what it was, and thought within themselves) What is this being ?'” Similarly, yaksha=being in the other passages of this khanda where this word recurs. Gopatha-brahmana, 1, 1, 1: brahma vd idam agra dsit svayambhv ekam eva tad aikshata
mahad vai yaksham tad ekam evdami hantdham mad eva manmatram dvitiyam devan nirmimå iti.... tasya....laldte sneho yad ardryam ajáyata tendnandat tam abravid
maharl vai yaksham suvedam avidamahiti || 36 - At first, verily, the self-born Brahman existed alone. It considered ' Verily, I alone exist, the great being, That (that is, Brahman); well, I shall create from myself a second god like to me'. .. . At the moisture, wetness, that was produced on its forehead, it felt glad; It 37 said:
We have verily easily got the great being '." Mahad yaksham, the great being referred to here, is water, a path, which at first appears as sneha drdryam on the forehead and then (see khanda 2) as svedadhardh, streams of perspiration in the pores of its skin, and is in khanda 3, expressly called by that name (td ápah srshtca anvuikshata). Regarding the creation of Water first by the Brahman, compare Manu, 1, 8: apa eva 89sarjadau tasu viryam avdarjat; Sakuntala, 1, 1: which refers to Water as ya srshih srushtur adya : Ait. Up. 1, 1f. ; sa ikshata lokdn nu srja iti sa iman lolan asjatambho maridir maram dpah; Sat. Br. 6, 1, 3, 1: praja patir ud idam agra asid eka eva so'kilmayata bahu syám praja yeyeti so srdmynt sa tapo'tapyata tamaa chrántát tepanåt & po'erjyanta ; compare also Kathopanishat, 2, 1, 6: yah púrvan tapaso jatain adbhyah pirvam ajayata which also says impliedly that tapas and a paḥ were first-born beings. TB. 3, 12, 3, 1: prathamajam devam havíshá vidhema
svayambhú brahma paraman lipo yal 81 evó putrah i pita' su mata'
lipo ha yaksham prathamin & babhúwa | "Let us worship with oblation the first-born god, namely, Tapas, the self-born Brahman, the highest. He alone is the son, he the father, he the mother. Tapas was born the first being." Compare Kathopanishat, 2, 1, 6 cited above. It is said frequently in the Upani. shads and elsewhere that Brahman, after the desire arose in it to create, performed tapas; and this has led to tapas being regarded as the first thing created by Brahman. Compare Såyana's commentary on this verse : yoyam tapobhimani devak sa prathamajah tatha copani. shali 858hti-prakarane prathamajatvam amndyate soka mayata bahu syam prajayayeti sa ta potapyala ; compare also AV. 11, 8, 6: lá po ha jajõe karmanas tat té jyeshtham úpåsata * Tapas was born from action ; that did they worship as the eldest.
TB. 3, 11, 1, 1: tváyidím anták visvain yakshim vigvam bhútán visvain subhútám.
"Within thee is all being, all creation, all prosperity." This is a formula that is used twentyfour times (with variations in the number of the second personal pronoun when required by the context) in respect of the twenty-four bricks, ishtakdh, used in the Nacikela-cayana. These bricks are identified with the earth, waters, sky, etc., and each of these is panegyrised as the container of the whole universe. The expressions việuam yaksham and viśvam bhitam mean almost the same thing; compare also TA. 10, 16, 1 : viftam bhulam bhuvanam citram, which corresponds exactly to visvam yaksham visvam bhutani visvam Subhitam here. AV. 8, 9, 8: yd'n pracyulâm anu yajid'l pracyvanta
upalishthanta upatishthamanám! Yasyå vraté prasave yaksham éjati
ad' vird' shayaḥ paramé vyòman ! "After whom, when she is going, the sacrifices go and with whose approach they approach ; following whose ordinance and through whose impulse, the world moves,-she, O sages,
39 So corrected by Whitney in his Grammar, 1848, instoad of the avidamdha iti of the editions. 37 I road tad abravit instead of tam abrauit me printed in the edition,