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RIDDLE NO. 3 23
bhuvah, svar) preceded by om, and the gayatri of three lines, are to be regarded as the mouth of Brahma.”
V
It is also interesting to note what the Puranas have to say about the origin of the Vedas. The Vishnu Purana [1] says:
“From his eastern mouth Brahma formed the gayatra, the rick verses, the trivrit, the soma-rathantara, and of sacrifices, the agnishtoma. From his southern mouth he created the yajush verses, the trishtubh metre, the panchadasa-stoma, the vrihat-saman and the ukthya. From his western mouth he formed the saman verses, the jagatimetre, the saptadasa-stoma, the vairupa, and the atiratra. From his northern mouth he framed the ekavinsa, the atharvan, the aptoryaman, with the anushtubh and biraj metres.”
The Bhagvat Purana [2] says:
“Once the Vedas sprang from the four-faced creator, as he was meditating ‘how shall I create the aggregate worlds as before?... He formed from his eastern and other mouths the Vedas called rick, yajush, saman, and atharvan, together with praise, sacrifice, hymns and expiation.” *[ There appears to be some quotations missing as there is no link between these two paragraphs. ]
“Entering between her eyes. From her there was then produced a quadruple being in the form of a Male, lustrous as Brahma, undefined, eternal, undecaying, devoid of bodily senses or qualities, distinguished by the attribute of brilliancy, pure as the rays of the moon, radiant, and embodied in letters. The God fashioned the Rig-Veda, with the Yajush from his eyes, the Sama-Veda from the tip of his tongue, and the Atharvan from his head. These Vedas, as soon as they are born, find a body, (kshetra). Hence they obtain their character of Vedas, because they find (vindanti) that abode. These Vedas then create the pre-existent eternal Brahma (sacred science), a Male of celestial form, with their own mind-born qualities.”
It also accepts Prajapati as the origin. It says that when the Supreme being was intent on creating the Universe, Hiranyagarbha, or Prajapati, issued from his mouth the sound ‘Om’, and was desired to divide himself—a process which he was in great doubt how he should effect— the Harivamsa proceeds [3] :
“ While he was thus reflecting, the sound ‘om’ issued from him, and resounded through the earth, air and sky. While the God of Gods
1 Muir Vol. I. p. 11.
2 Ibid. p. 11.
3 Ibid. p. 14.