Daksha, the father of Uma, the consort of Siva, has attained pre-eminence amongst his brethren largely through the greatness of his son-in-law. He, too, is a mind-born son of Brahma; or, according to other accounts, sprang from the thumb of his father. He is

one of the chief Prajapatis. Before speaking of Daksha, as the term Prajapati is of frequent occurrence, it will not be out of place here to describe the position of these beings.

The term Prajapati means a lord of creatures; the Prajapatis, therefore, are regarded as the progenitors of mankind. The word is used in much the same manner

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DAKSHA.

as Patriarch in the Christian Scriptures. Sometimes Brahma alone is intended by the term Prajapati; he is the "lord of creatures;" sometimes it is employed for the first-formed men from whom the human race sprang. The word was originally employed as an epithet of Savitri and Soma, as well as of Hiranyagarbha, or Brahma. It afterwards, however, came to denote a separate deity, who appears in three places in the

[paragraph continues] Rig-Veda. Prajapati is sometimes identified with the universe, and described (in the same way as Brahma, or entity, or non-entity in other places) as having alone existed in the beginning, as the source out of which creation was evolved: "e.g. Prajapati was this universe; Vach was a second to him. She became pregnant, she departed from him, she produced these creatures. She again entered into Prajapati." [**] At the same time he is "sometimes described as a secondary or subordinate deity, and treated as one of thirty-three deities."

By the time Manu wrote, creation had come to be regarded as the special work of Brahma, hence the term Prajapati is applied to him in the Dharmasastra, and in the later writings it is given to those who sprang from him, and carried on his work of populating the world.

The Mahabharata [*+] gives two distinct accounts of the origin of Daksha:--"Daksha, the glorious Rishi, tranquil in spirit, and great in austere fervour, sprang from the right thumb of Brahma. From the left thumb sprang the great Muni's wife, by whom he begot fifty daughters." "Born with all splendour, like that of the great Rishis, the ten sons of Prachetas (another Prajapati) are reputed to have been virtuous and holy, and by them the glorious beings (trees, plants, etc.), were formerly burnt up by fire springing from their mouth. From them was born Daksha Prachetasa; and from Daksha, the parent of the world, (were produced) these creatures. Cohabiting with Virini, the Muni Daksha begat a thousand sons like himself, famous for their religious observances." In the Harivansa, Vishnu is identified with Daksha. At the end of a thousand Yugas the Brahmans of a previous age, "perfect in knowledge and contemplation, became involved in the