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RIDDLE NO. 3 21
called ‘apah’. As she covered (avrinot) all, water was called ‘Var’. He desired, ‘May I be propagated from these waters’. Along with this triple Vedic science he entered the waters. Thence sprang an egg. He gave it an impulse; and said ‘ let there be, let there be, let there be again’. Thence was first created sacred knowledge, the triple Vedic science. Wherefore men say, ‘Sacred knowledge is the first-born thing’ in this universe. Moreover, it was sacred knowledge which was created from that Male in front, wherefore it was created as his mouth. Hence they say of a man learned in the Veda, ‘he is like Agni; for the sacred knowledge is Agni’s mouth’.”
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 today 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. [4]
III
The Upanishads have also attempted to explain the origin of the Vedas.
The explanation offered by the Chhandogya Upanishad is the same [5]
1 Muir I. pp. 9-10.
2 Ibid. p. 8.
3 Ibid. p. 10.
4 Ibid. p. 10.
5 Ibid p. 5.