Viśvakarman & Prajāpati in Rigveda

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Viśvakarman, Prajāpati

Viśvakarman and Prajāpati are presented in the Rigvedic tradition as abstract, overarching deities that crystallize late in the Rigvedic period as names or aspects of the “one” supreme god. Viśvakarman appears rarely but prominently (especially in two hymns), while Prajāpati emerges both as an epithet of other gods and, in the tenth maṇḍala, as a distinct creator deity. In Brāhmaṇa literature the two are explicitly connected, with Viśvakarman identified with the creator Prajāpati, and later Hindu tradition makes Viśvakarman the divine artificer.

Viśvakarman in the Rigveda

As a named deity, Viśvakarman occurs only five times in the Rigveda, all in the tenth book, including two full hymns dedicated to him [1][2]. The term also appears adjectivally: once describing Indra [3] and once the Sun as “all-creating” [4]. In later Vedic usage it is also an epithet of Prajāpati (e.g., in the Yajurveda). The tenth-maṇḍala hymns portray Viśvakarman as all-seeing—having eyes, face, arms, and feet on every side—and even winged; as seer and priest, “our father”; lord of speech (vācas pati); swift as thought; beneficent; and the source of prosperity. He knows all places and beings and is the one who assigns names to the gods; he is both establisher (dhātṛ) and disposer (vidhātṛ), having produced the earth and disclosed the sky. Likely first an epithet of the Sun, the name later becomes one of several near-synonyms for the singular supreme deity, with Viśvakarman especially conceived in an architectonic aspect [5].

Prajāpati in the Rigveda

The word Prajāpati appears in the Rigveda as an epithet in a few earlier places: once of Savitṛ, “supporter of heaven and prajāpati of the world” [6], and once of Soma in comparison with Tvaṣṭṛ and Indra [7]. Elsewhere (four occurrences), and only in the tenth book, Prajāpati is a distinct deity: he is invoked to bestow abundant offspring [8], besought—together with Viṣṇu, Tvaṣṭṛ, and Dhātṛ—to grant progeny [9], and is said to make cows prolific [10].

A single hymn of praise is devoted to Prajāpati [11], where he is celebrated as creator of heaven and earth and of the waters and all life; as the one lord (pati) and one king over all that breathes and moves; the “one god above the gods,” whose ordinances all beings—and the gods—follow; who established the two worlds, traverses space, and embraces the whole universe with his arms. In this hymn, the name “Prajāpati” itself occurs only in the last stanza, yet the conception is clearly that of the supreme god—an understanding that becomes common in the Atharvaveda and Yajurveda and regular in the Brāhmaṇas, where he is recognized as chief god and father of the gods, having existed alone in the beginning.

Relationship between Viśvakarman and Prajāpati

Later Vedic texts explicitly identify Viśvakarman with the creator Prajāpati; in post-Vedic thought, Viśvakarman becomes the craftsman of the gods, while Prajāpati remains the paradigmatic creator. This reflects a convergence of two late-Rigvedic tendencies: naming the singular supreme being and emphasizing creative/makerly (architectonic) functions.

Rigvedic References

  1. [1] RV 10.81 — Hymn to Viśvakarman.
  2. [2] RV 10.82 — Hymn to Viśvakarman.
  3. [3] RV 8.98 — Viśvakarman used as an epithet of Indra.
  4. [4] RV 10.170.4 — The Sun described as “all-creating.”
  5. [5] RV 10.81.3 — Viśvakarman aligned with the “one god.”
  6. [6] RV 4.53.2 — Savitṛ called prajāpati of the world.
  7. [7] RV 9.59 — Prajāpati as an epithet of Soma (in comparison with Tvaṣṭṛ and Indra).
  8. [8] RV 10.85.43 — Prajāpati invoked to bestow offspring.
  9. [9] RV 10.184 — Prajāpati besought with Viṣṇu, Tvaṣṭṛ, and Dhātṛ to grant offspring.
  10. [10] RV 10.169.4 — Prajāpati said to make cows prolific.
  11. [11] RV 10.121 — The Prajāpati (“Ka”) hymn; the name appears only in the last verse.

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