Verse 1.21

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

सर्वेषां तु स नामानि कर्माणि च पृथक् पृथक् ।
वेदशब्देभ्य एवादौ पृथक् संस्थाश्च निर्ममे ॥ २१ ॥

sarveṣāṃ tu sa nāmāni karmāṇi ca pṛthak pṛthak |
vedaśabdebhya evādau pṛthak saṃsthāśca nirmame || 21 ||

At the outset he designated distinct names for add things; and devised acts and Laws, on the basis of the words of the veda.—(21)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘He,’ Prajāpati, ‘designated the names of all things’; just in the same manner as people assign names to new-born children, or to other things also, for the purpose of speaking of them in ordinary business; as we find done in such assertions as, ‘āt and aich are called Vṛddhi’ (Pāṇini 1.1.1), or ‘Dhi-śrī-strī &c.’ (Piṅgala). What is meant is that he established a connection between a certain thing and a certain term,—such terms, for instance, as ‘ganḥ’ (Cow), ‘Aśvaḥ’ (Horse) and ‘Puruṣaḥ’ (Man).

He devised also the acts, known as ‘Dhaima-Adharma’ (Virtue-Vice),—i.e., such acts as the Agnithotra and the like which lead to transcendental results.

Having devised the acts, he devised also the ‘laws,’ the rules, governing them; such for instance, as, ‘such and such an act should be done by the Brāhmaṇa only, at such and such a time, for the purpose of obtaining such and such a result.’—Or, ‘laws’ may be taken as referring to the rules governing the ordinary acts with visible worldly results; such, for instance, as ‘cattle should graze in such and such a place,’ ‘this water should not be given for purposes of irrigation of crops to such and such a village until we have secured such and such a benefit from it in return.’—He devised also those acts that accomplish only visible results; but those acts that accomplish transcendental results he devised on the basis of Vedic declarations.

Objection—“As a matter of fact, all things have been created by Brahmā; and since he is the only independent agent, the proper statement would have been that ‘he devised the Veda for the purpose of safeguarding the performaṅce of acts’; in fact the devising of the Veda by Brahmā is going to be described even in the present context (in verse 23).”

Answer—On the subject of the origin of the Vedas, several theories have been propounded: (1) Some people hold as follows:—Brahmā studied the Vedas in a previous cycle;—at the following Universal Dissolution, they disappeared;—in the succeeding cycle at first they were recollected by Brahmā, just as if he had gone to sleep and had risen from it; in the same manner as people remember a verse that came to their mind during a dream;—the Veda having been thus recollected by him, he remembers the words of such passages as “gauranubandhyaḥ-aśvastuparo mṛgaḥ (Yajurveda-Vajasa. 24.1), and immediately there come to his mind the things denoted by these words; so that as soon as these things are found to have come into existence, he decides that, inasmuch as such as was the name of this thing in the preceding cycle, it may have the same name in this cycle also. So that he devised the names as well as the acts, both on the basis of the words of the Veda.—(2) The other theory is as follows:—Even at universal Dissolution the Vedas do not disappear at all; they continue to exist for ever, just like the Supreme Being postulated by certain philosophers. This same Supreme Being created within the egg the being named Brahmā and taught him the Vedas; and this Brahmā, on the basis of the words of the Vedas, devised every thing.

What the real truth on this point is we have already set forth above; while for one who seeks for an account in accordance with the Purāṇas, we have just described the two theories that have been propounded.

‘Ādau,’ ‘at the outset’—at the time of world creation;—or, ‘ādau’ may be taken to mean ‘ever-lasting,’ referring to those names whose original form has not become corrupted, as distinguished from such corrupted names as ‘gāvī’ and the like, which owe their origin to the incapacity of men (to pronounce the corect forms).

‘Distinct’—the names designated were in accordance with that configuration of the body peculiar to each species; what he designated was not merely a collective name (applicable to all animals),—but a distinct name for each species.—(21)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata, 12.232.26.—‘Out of the words of the Veda itself did He, in the beginning, create the names of the sages, as also of all those creations that are described in the Veda.’