Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/48

 3 2 The E artier Upanzads [CH. systems in astronomy. The direct translation of Visvakarman or Hiral).yagarbha into the atman and the Brahman of the Upani- ads seems to me to be very improbable, though I am quite willing to admit that these conceptions were swallowed up by the atman doctrine when it had developed to a proper extent. Throughout the earlier U paniads no mention is to be found of Visvakarman, Hiral).yagarbha or Brahmal).aspati and no reference of such a nature is to be found as can justify us in connecting the Upaniad ideas with those conceptions l . The word purua no doubt occurs frequently in the U paniads, but the sense and the association that come along with it are widely different from that of the purua of the Puruasiikta of the Rg- Veda. When the Rg- Veda describes Visvakarman it describes him as a creator from outside, a controller of mundane events, to whom they pray for worldly benefits. "What was the position, which and whence was the principle, from which the all-seeing Visvakar- man produced the earth, and disclosed the sky by his might? The one god, who has on every side eyes, on every side a face, on every side arms, on every side feet, when producing the sky and earth, shapes them with his arms and with his wings... .Do thou, Visva- karman,grant to thy friends those thy abodes which are the highest, and the lowest, an the middle...may a generous son remain here to us 2 "; again in R.V.x.82 we find "Visvakarman is wise, energetic, the creator, the disposer, and the highest object of intuition. . .. He who is our father, our creator, disposer, who knows all spheres and creatures, who alone assigns to the gods their names, to him the other creatures resort for instruction 3 ." Again about H iral).yagarbha we find in R.V. I. 121, " Hiral)yagarbha arose in the beginning; born, he was the one lord of things existing. He established the earth and this sky; to what god shall we offer our oblation? ... May he not injure us, he who is the generator of the earth, who ruling by fixed ordinances, produced the heavens, who produced the great and brilliant waters I-to what god, etc.? Prajapati, no other than thou is lord over all these created things: may we obtain that, through desire of which we have invoked thee; may we become masters of riches"." Speaking of the purua the Rg- Veda I The name ViSvakarma appears in Svet. IV. 17. Hiral)yagarbha appears in Svet. III. 4 anu IV. ['2, but only as the first created being. The phrase Sarvahammani Hiral)- yagarbha which Deussen refers to occurs only in the later Nrsitpl). 9. The word Brah- mal)aspati does not occur at all in the Upani!iiads. 2 Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. IV. pp. 6,7, 3 Ibid. p. 7. " ibid. pp. 16,17.