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130 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
“As from a fire made of moist wood various modifications of smoke proceed, so is the breathing of this great being; the Rig-Veda, the Yajurveda, the Sama-veda, the Atharv-angirases, the Itihasas, Puranas, science, the Upanishads, verses (slokas), aphorisms, comments of different kings—all these are his breathings”.
There is a third explanation [1] given in the Satapatha Brahmana:
“I settle thee in the ocean as they seat” Mind is the ocean. From the mind-ocean with speech for a shovel the gods dug out the triple Vedic science. Hence this verse has been uttered: ‘May the brilliant deity to-day know where they placed that offering which the gods dug out with sharp shovels. Mind is the ocean; speech is the sharp shovel; the triple Vedic science is the offering. In reference to this the verse has been uttered. He settles it in Mind”.
The Taitteriya-Brahmana has three explanations to offer. It speaks of the Vedas as being derived from Prajapati. It also says Prajapati created King Soma and after him the three Vedas were created [2] . This Brahmana has another explanation [3] quite unconnected with Prajapati. According to it:
“Vach (speech) is an imperishable thing, and the first-born of the ceremonial, the mother of the Vedas, and the centre-point of immortality. Delighting in us, she came to the sacrifice. May the protecting goddess be ready to listen to my invocation, she whom the wise rishis, the composers of hymns, the gods, sought by austerefervour, and by laborious devotion.”
To crown all this the Taitteriya Brahmana offers a third explanation. It says that the Vedas came from the beard of Prajapati.
Legends regarding the origin of the Vedas are also to be found in the Upanishads.
The legend recorded in the Chhandogya Upanishad is the same as that found in the Satapatha Brahmana—namely that the Rig-Veda originated from Agni, Yajus from Vayu and Sam from the Sun.
The Brahad Aranyaka Upanishad which is a part of the Satapatha Brahmana, records quite a different legend. It says:
“Prajapati (identified with Death, or the Devourer) is said to have produced Vach (speech), and through her, together with soul, to have created all things, including the Vedas.”
“By that speech and that soul he created all things whatsoever, rich, yajush, and saman texts, metres, sacrifices, creatures, and animals. The three Vedas are (identifiable with) these three things (speech, mind and breath). Speech is the Rig-veda, mind the Yajur-veda, and breath the Sama-veda.”
1 Muir I pp. 9-10.
2 Muir I p. 8.
3 Ibid. I p. 10.