z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 03.indd MK SJ YS 21 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 75
RIDDLE NO. 10 75
“We have heard, O Kshatriya, that Swayambhu (Brahma) had a passion for Vach, his slender and enchanting daughter, who had no passion for him. The Munis, his sons, headed by Marichi, seeing their father bent upon wickedness, admonished him with affection ; ‘This is such a thing as has not been done by those before you, nor will those after you do it,— that you, being the lord, should sexually approach your daughter, not restraining your passion. This, O preceptor of the world, is not a laudable deed even in glorious personages, through limitation of whose actions men attain felicity. Glory to that divine being (Vishnu) who by his own lustre revealed this (universe) which abides in himself, he must maintain ‘righteousness’. Seeing his sons, the Prajapatis, thus speaking before him the lord of the Prajapatis (Bramha) was ashamed, and abandoned his body. This dreadful body the regions received and it is known as foggy darkness.”
The result of this degrading and defamatory attacks on Brahma was to damn him completely. No wonder that his cult disappeared from the face of India leaving him a nominal and theoretical member of the Trimurti.
After Brahma was driven out of the field there remained in the field Shiva and Vishnu. The two however were never at peace. The rivalry and antagonism between the two is continuous.
The Puranas are full of propaganda and counter-propaganda carried on by the Brahmins, protagonists of Shiva and Vishnu. How well matched the propaganda and counter-propaganda was, can be seen from the following few illustrations :
Vishnu is connected with the Vedic God Sun. The worshippers of Shiva connect him with Agni. The motive was that if Vishnu has a Vedic origin Shiva must also have Vedic origin as well. One cannot be inferior to the other in the matter of nobility of origin.
Shiva must be greater than Vishnu and Vishnu must not be less than Shiva. Vishnu has thousand [1] names. So Shiva must have thousand names and he has them [2] .
Vishnu has his emblems [3] . They are four. So Shiva must have them and he has them. They are (1) flowing ganges, (2) Chandra (moon),
(3) Shesh (snake) and, (4) Jata (walled hair). The only point on which Shiva did not compete with Vishnu was the matter of Avatars. The reason is not that there was no desire to compete but that philosophically there was an impediment in the way of Shiva taking
1 See Vishnu Sahasranama.
2 They are mentioned in the Padma Purana.
3 Ibid.