The ideas of Being and Not-being (τὸ ὄν and τὸ μὴ ὄν) are familiar to the Hindus from a very early time in their intellectual growth, and they can only have been the result of abstract speculation. Therefore dáksha, too, in the sense of power or potentia, may have been a metaphysical conception. But it may also have been suggested by a mere accident of language, a never-failing source of ancient thoughts. The name dáksha-pitarah, an epithet of the gods, has generally been translated by 'those who have Daksha for their father.' But it may have been used originally in a very different sense. Professor Roth has, I think, convincingly proved that this epithet dáksha-pitar, as given to certain gods, does not mean, the gods who have Daksha for their father, but that it had originally the simpler meaning of fathers of strength, or, as he translates it, 'preserving, possessing, granting faculties a.' This is particularly clear in one passage:

III, 27, 9. bhûtâ´nâm gárbham â´ dadhe, dákshasya, pitáram.

I place Agni, the source of all beings, the father of strength …

After this we can hardly hesitate how to translate the next verse:

VI, 50, 2. su-gyótishah—dáksha-pitrîn—devâ´n.

The resplendent gods, the fathers of strength.

It may seem more doubtful, when we come to gods like Mitra and Varuna, whom we are so much accustomed to regard as Âdityas, or sons of Aditi, and who therefore, according to the theogony mentioned before, would have the best claim to the name of sons of Daksha; yet here, too, the original and simple meaning is preferable; nay, it is most likely that from passages like this, the later explanation, which makes Mitra and Varuna the sons of Daksha, may have sprung.

VII, 66, 2. yâ´—su-dákshâ dáksha-pitarâ.

Mitra and Varuna, who are of good strength, the fathers of strength.

Lastly, even men may claim this name; for, unless we change the accent, we must translate:

VIII, 63, 10. avasyávah yushmâ´bhih dáksha-pitarah.

We suppliants, being, through your aid, fathers of strength.

But whatever view we take, whether we take dáksha in the sense of power, as a personification of a philosophical conception, or as the result of a mythological misunderstanding occasioned by the name of dáksha-pitar, the fact remains that in certain hymns of the Rig-veda (VIII, 25, 5) Dáksha, like Aditi, has become a divine person, and has retained his place as one of the Âdityas to the very latest time of Purânic tradition.

Aditi in her Cosmic Character.

But to return to Aditi. Let us look upon her as the Infinite personified, and most passages, even those where she is presented as a subordinate deity, will become intelligible.