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{{Short description|Vedic deity identified with Brahma}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{distinguish|Pashupati}}
[[File:Prajapati.JPG|thumb|Prajapati with similar iconographical features associated with [[Brahma]], a sculpture from [[Tamil Nadu]].]]
[[File:Daksha Prajapati Temple, Banapur , Odisha - 8.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of Prajapati at Daksha Prajapati Temple, Banapur , Odisha]]
'''Prajapati''' ({{lang-sa|प्रजापति|Prajāpati|lord and protector of creation}}) is a [[Vedas|Vedic]] deity of [[Hinduism]].<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518">{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/518 518]–519}}</ref> In later literature, Prajapati is identified with the creator god [[Brahma]], but the term also connotes many different gods, depending on the Hindu text, ranging from being the creator god to being same as one of the following: [[Viswakarma]], [[Agni]], [[Indra]], [[Daksha]], and many others,<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/> reflecting the diverse [[Hindu cosmology]].<ref name="Williams2008p234"/> In classical and medieval era literature, Prajapati is equated to the metaphysical concept called [[Brahman]] as Prajapati-Brahman (Svayambhu Brahman), or alternatively Brahman is described as one who existed before Prajapati.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sukumari Bhattacharji|title=The Indian Theogony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDc9AAAAIAAJ |year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=322–323, 337, 338, 341–342}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/prajapati | title=Prajapati, Prajāpati, Prajāpatī, Praja-pati: 30 definitions | date=28 September 2010 }}</ref>

==Etymology==
Prajapati ([[Sanskrit]]: {{lang|sa|प्रजापति}}) is a compound of "praja" (creation, procreative powers) and "pati" (lord, master).<ref>[[Jan Gonda]] (1982), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 The Popular Prajāpati] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215195110/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 |date=15 February 2020 }}, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 137-141</ref> The term means "lord of creatures",<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/> or "lord of all born beings".<ref name="JonesRyan2006p332"/> In the later Vedic texts, Prajapati is a distinct Vedic deity, but whose significance diminishes.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/> Later, the term is synonymous with other gods, particularly Brahma.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518"/> Still later, the term evolves to mean any divine, semi-divine or human sages who create something new.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4|pages=169, 518–519}}</ref>

==Origins==
[[File:An attempt to depict the creative activities of Prajapati.jpg|thumb|"An attempt to depict the creative activities of Prajapati", a steel engraving from the 1850s.]]
The origins of Prajapati are unclear. He appears late in the Vedic layer of texts, and the hymns that mention him provide different cosmological theories in different chapters.<ref name="Lochtefeld2002p518"/> He is missing from the [[Samhita]] layer of Vedic literature, conceived in the [[Brahmana]] layer, states [[Jan Gonda]].<ref name="Gonda1986p2"/> Prajapati is younger than [[Savitr]], and the word was originally an epithet for the sun.<ref name=gonda130>[[Jan Gonda]] (1982), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 The Popular Prajāpati] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215195110/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 |date=15 February 2020 }}, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 129-130</ref> His profile gradually rises in the Vedas, peaking within the [[Brahmana]]s.<ref name="Gonda1986p2">{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|title=Prajāpatiʼs rise to higher rank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2OIUAAAAIAAJ |year=1986|publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-07734-0|pages=2–5}}</ref> Scholars such as Renou, Keith and Bhattacharji posit Prajapati originated as an abstract or semi-abstract deity in the later Vedic milieu as speculations evolved from the archaic to more learned speculations.<ref name=gonda130/>

===Indo-European===
A possible connection between Prajapati (and related figures in Indian tradition) and the [[Phanes|Prōtogonos]] ({{lang-grc|Πρωτογόνος}}, literally "first-born") of the Greek [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic tradition]] has been proposed:<ref>Martin West, ''Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient''. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971: 28-34</ref><ref name=alsobrook20>Kate Alsobrook (2008), "The Beginning of Time: Vedic and Orphic Theogonies and Poetics". M.A. Thesis, Reviewers: James Sickinger, Kathleen Erndl, John Marincola and Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Florida State University, pages 20, 1-5, 24-25, 40-44</ref>

{{Quote|
Protogonos is the [[Orpheus|Orphic]] equivalent of Vedic Prajapati in several ways: he is the first god born from a cosmic egg, he is the creator of the universe, and in the figure of [[Dionysus]]— a direct descendant of Protogonos—worshippers participate in his death and rebirth.
|Kate Alsobrook|''The Beginning of Time: Vedic and Orphic Theogonies and Poetics''<ref name=alsobrook20/>}}

According to Robert Graves, the name of /PRA-JĀ[N]-pati/ ('progeny-potentate') is etymologically equivalent to that of the oracular god at [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] (according to Makrobios<ref>Robert Graves : ''The Greek Myths''. 1955. vol. 1, p. 31, sec. 2.2</ref>), namely /prōtogonos/.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}} The cosmic egg concept linked to Prajapati and Protogonos is common in many parts of the world, states David Leeming, which appears in later Orphic cult in Greece.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Adams Leeming|title=Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9I62BcuPxfYC |year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-174-9|pages=313–314}}</ref>

==Texts==
Prajapati is described in many ways and inconsistently in Hindu texts, both in the Vedas and in the post-Vedic texts. These range from being the creator god to being same as one of the following: [[Brahma]], [[Agni]], [[Indra]], [[Vishvakarma]], [[Daksha]] and many others.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Sukumari Bhattacharji |year= 2007 |title=The Indian Theogony |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lDc9AAAAIAAJ |publisher = Cambridge University Press|pages= 322–330}}</ref>

===Vedas===
His role varies within the Vedic texts such as being one who created heaven and earth, all of water and beings, the chief, the father of gods, the creator of ''[[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]'' and ''[[asura]]s'', the cosmic egg and the [[Purusha]] (spirit).<ref name="Williams2008p234"/><ref name="JonesRyan2006p332">{{cite book|author1=Constance Jones|author2=James D. Ryan|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC |year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5|page=332}}</ref> His role peaked in the Brahmanas layer of Vedic text, then declined to being a group of helpers in the creation process.<ref name="Williams2008p234"/> In some Brahmana texts, his role remains ambiguous since he co-creates with the powers with goddess [[Vāc]] (sound).<ref name="Kinsley1988p12">{{cite book|author=David Kinsley|title=Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition|url=https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins|url-access=registration|year=1988|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-90883-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins/page/12 12]–13}}</ref>

In the ''[[Rigveda]]'', Prajapati appears as an epithet for Savitr, Soma, Agni and Indra, who are all praised as equal, same and lord of creatures.<ref name= Bhattacharji322>{{cite book|author=Sukumari Bhattacharji |year= 2007 |title=The Indian Theogony |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lDc9AAAAIAAJ |publisher = Cambridge University Press|pages= 322–323}}</ref> Elsewhere, in hymn 10.121 of the ''Rigveda'', is described ''Hiranyagarbha'' (golden embryo) that was born from the waters containing everything, which produced Prajapati. It then created ''manah'' (mind), ''kama'' (desire) and ''tapas'' (heat). However, this Prajapati is a metaphor, one of many [[Hindu cosmology]] theories, and there is no supreme deity in the ''Rigveda''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gavin D. Flood|title=An Introduction to Hinduism |url= https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |url-access=registration|year=1996 |publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 978-0-521-43878-0|pages= [https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/45 45]–46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Henry White Wallis|title=The Cosmology of the Ṛigveda: An Essay|url= https://archive.org/details/cosmologyigveda00wallgoog|year= 1887|publisher= Williams and Norgate|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cosmologyigveda00wallgoog/page/n67 61]–73, 117}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Laurie L. Patton|title=Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSZmbbsg9bEC |year=2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-93088-9|pages=113, 216}}</ref> One of the striking features about the Hindu Prajapati myths, states Jan Gonda, is the idea that work of creation is a gradual process, completed in stages of trial and improvement.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|title=Prajāpatiʼs rise to higher rank |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2OIUAAAAIAAJ |year= 1986|publisher= BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-07734-0|pages=20–21}}</ref>

In the ''[[Shatapatha Brahmana]]'', embedded inside the ''[[Yajurveda]]'', Prajapati emanated from Purusha (cosmic spirit) and Prajapati co-creates the world with the goddess of Language.<ref name="WilkeMoebus2011p414">{{cite book|author1=Annette Wilke|author2=Oliver Moebus|title=Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wmYz_OtZ_gC |year=2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-024003-0|pages=414–416}}</ref> It also includes the "golden cosmic egg" mythology, wherein Prajapati is stated to be born from a golden egg in primeval sea after the egg was incubated for a year. His sounds became the sky, the earth and the seasons. When he inhaled, he created the devas (gods), fire and light. When he exhaled, he created the asuras (demons) and darkness. Then, together with the goddess of Language, he created all beings and time.<ref name="Leeming2010p144">{{cite book|author=David Adams Leeming|title=Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9I62BcuPxfYC |year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-174-9|pages=144–146}}</ref> In Chapter 10 of the ''Shatapatha Brahmana'', as well as chapter 13 of ''Pancavimsa Brahmana'', is presented another theory wherein he (Prajapati) is a mother, becomes self-pregnant with all living creatures self-generated, then evil ''Mrtyu'' seizes these beings within his womb, but because these beings are part of the eternal Prajapati, they desire to live long like him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|title=Prajāpatiʼs rise to higher rank |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2OIUAAAAIAAJ |year= 1986|publisher= BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-07734-0|pages=5, 14–16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sukumari Bhattacharji |year= 2007 |title=The Indian Theogony |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lDc9AAAAIAAJ |publisher = Cambridge University Press|pages= 324–325}}</ref>

The ''Aitareya Brahmana'' offers a different myth, wherein Prajapati, having created the gods, metamorphosed into a stag and approached his daughter Dawn who was in the form of a doe, to produce other earthly beings. The gods were horrified by the incest, and joined forces to produce angry destructive [[Rudra]] to punish Prajapati for "doing what is not done". Prajapati was killed by Rudra.<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/> The ''Kausitaki Brahmana'' offers yet another myth, wherein Prajapati created from his own self fire, sun, moon, wind and feminine dawn. The first four saw dawn and released their seeds, which became existence (''Bhava'').<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/>

In section 2.266 of Jaiminiya Brahmana, Prajapati is presented as a spiritual teacher. His student [[Varuna]] lives with him for 100 years, studying the art and duties of being the "father-like king of gods".<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|title=Prajāpatiʼs rise to higher rank |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2OIUAAAAIAAJ |year= 1986|publisher= BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-07734-0|pages=17–18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sukumari Bhattacharji |year= 2007 |title=The Indian Theogony |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lDc9AAAAIAAJ |publisher = Cambridge University Press|pages= 326–327}}</ref>

===Upanishads===
Prajapati appears in early Upanishads, among the most influential texts in Hinduism.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195352429}}, pages 3, 279-281; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".</ref> He is described in the Upanishads in diverse ways. For example, in different Upanishads, he is presented as the personification of creative power after Brahman,<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|pages=19–21, 205, 240, 350, 510, 544}}</ref> the same as the wandering eternal soul,<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|page=495}}</ref> as symbolism for unmanifest obscure first born,<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|pages=85, 96–97, 252}}</ref> as manifest procreative sexual powers,<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|pages=53–56, 471, 534, 540}}</ref> the knower particularly of [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (soul, self),<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|page=371}}</ref> and a spiritual teacher that is within each person.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title=Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mSpQo9q-tIC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4|pages=21, 106, 198–205, 263, 508, 544}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus G. Witz|title=The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC |year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1573-5|pages=115, 145–153, 363–365}}</ref> The ''Chandogya Upanishad'', as an illustration, presents him as follows:<ref name=olivelle279/>

{{Quote|
The self (atman) that is free from evils,
free from old age and death,
free from sorrow, free from hunger and thirst;
the self whose desires and intentions are real –
that is the self that you should try to discover,
that is the self that you should seek to perceive.
When someone discovers that self and perceives it,
he obtains all the worlds, and all his desires are fulfilled,
so said Prajapati.
|[[Chandogya Upanishad]] 8.7.1|Translator: [[Patrick Olivelle]]<ref name=olivelle279>{{cite book|title=The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lsp18ZvstrcC|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-535242-9|pages=279–281}}</ref>}}In Chandogya Upanishad 1.2.1, Prajapati appears as the creator (father) of all gods and asuras: "The gods and the demons are both children of Prajāpati, yet they fought among themselves" ({{lang-sa|देवासुरा ह वै यत्र संयेतिरे उभये प्राजापत्यास्तद्ध|translit=devāsurā ha vai yatra saṃyetire ubhaye prājāpatyāstaddha}}).<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2019-01-04 |title=Chandogya Upanishad, Verse 1.2.1 (English and Sanskrit) |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/chandogya-upanishad-english/d/doc238721.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>

===Post-Vedic texts===
In the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', Brahma is declared to be a Prajapati who creates many males and females, and imbues them with desire and anger, the former to drive them into reproducing themselves and the latter to prevent them from being like gods.<ref name="Leeming2010p144"/> Other chapters of the epics and Puranas declare Shiva or Vishnu to be Prajapati.<ref name= Bhattacharji322/>

The ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' uses the epithet Prajapati to describe [[Krishna]], along with many other epithets.<ref>{{cite book|author=Winthrop Sargeant|editor=Christopher Key Chapple|title=The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COuy5CDAqt4C |year=2010|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2840-6|pages=37, 167, 491 (verse 11.39)}}</ref>

The [[Grhyasutra]]s include Prajapati as among the deities invoked during wedding ceremonies and prayed to for blessings of prosperous progeny, and harmony between husband and wife.<ref>[[Jan Gonda]] (1982), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 The Popular Prajāpati] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215195110/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062566 |date=15 February 2020 }}, History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), University of Chicago Press, pp. 131-132</ref>

Prajapati is identified with the personifications of Time, Fire, the Sun, etc. He is also identified with various mythical progenitors, especially (Manu Smrti 1.34) the ten lords of created beings first created by Brahmā: the Prajapatis Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, [[Prachetas]] or [[Daksha]], Bhrigu and Nārada.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hindu Mythology|last=Wilkins|first=W.J.|page=369|publisher=D.K. Printworld (P) Limited|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-246-0234-4|year=2003}}</ref>

In the [[Puranas]], there are groups of Prajapati called ''Prajapatayah'' who were [[rishi]]s (sages) or "grandfathers" from whom all of humanity resulted, followed by a Prajapatis list that widely varies in number and name between different texts.<ref name="Dalal2010p311">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=311}}</ref><ref name="Williams2008p234">{{cite book|author=George M. Williams|title=Handbook of Hindu Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7LOZfwCDpEC&dq=prajapati+williams+pandas&pg=PA234 |year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533261-2|pages=234–235 }}</ref> According to George Williams, the inconsistent, varying and evolving Prajapati concept in Hindu mythology reflects the diverse [[Hindu cosmology]].<ref name="Williams2008p234"/>

The ''Mahabharata'' and the genre of Puranas call various gods and sages as Prajapati. Some illustrations, states Roshen Dalal, include Agni, Bharata, Shashabindu, Shukra, Havirdhaman, Indra, Kapila, Kshupa, Prithu-Vainya, Soma, Svishtakrit, Tvashtr, Vishvakarma and Virana.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/>

In the medieval era texts of Hinduism, Prajapati refers to legendary agents of creation, working as gods or sages, who appear in every cycle of creation-maintenance-destruction (''manvantara''). Their numbers vary between seven, ten, sixteen or twenty-one.<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/>

===A list of twenty one includes===

# [[Rudra]],
# [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manu]],
# [[Daksha]],
# [[Bhrigu]],
# [[Dharma]],
# [[Tapa (Hinduism)|Tapa]],
# [[Yama]],
# [[Marichi|Marici]],
# [[Angiras (sage)|Angiras]],
# [[Atri]],
# [[Pulastya]],
# [[Pulaha]],
# [[Kratu]],
# [[Vasishtha]],
# Parameshti,
# [[Surya]],
# [[Chandra]],
# [[Kardama (Hinduism)|Kardama]],
# [[Krodha (Hinduism)|Krodha]] and
# [[Vikrita]].<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/><ref name="Williams2008p234"/>

===A list of sixteen found in the ''Ramayana'' includes===

# Angiras,
# [[Arishtanemi]],
# [[Atri]],
# [[Daksha]],
# Kardama,
# [[Kashyapa]],
# [[Kratu]],
# [[Marichi]],
# [[Prachetas]],
# [[Pulaha]],
# Pulastya,
# [[Samshraya]],
# [[Shesha]],
# &emsp; —
# Vikrita
# [[Vivasvan]].<ref name="Dalal2010p311"/>

===A list of ten includes===

# [[Marichi]],
# [[Angiras]],
# [[Atri]],
# [[Pulastya]],
# [[Pulaha]],
# [[Kratu]],
# [[Vasishtha]],
# [[Daksha]] (or [[Prachetas]]),
# [[Bhrigu]]
# [[Narada]].<ref name=" Dalal2010p311"/>

Their creative role varies. Pulaha, for example, is the mythical mind-born son of Brahma and a great rishi. As one of the Prajapatis, he helps create living wildlife such as lions, tigers, bears, wolves, as well as mythical beasts such as kimpurushas and shalabhas.<ref>{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title= Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=316}}</ref>

==Balinese Hinduism==
Hindu temples in Bali Indonesia called ''Pura Prajapati'', also called ''Pura Mrajapati'', are common. They are most associated with funeral rituals and the [[Ngaben]] (cremation) ceremony for the dead.<ref>{{cite book|author=David J. Stuart-Fox|title=Pura Besakih: Temple, Religion and Society in Bali|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vbxwAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=KITLV|isbn=978-90-6718-146-4|pages=92–94, 207–209}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Between Harmony and Discrimination: Negotiating Religious Identities within Majority-Minority Relationships in Bali and Lombok|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sma7AwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-27149-4|pages=264–266}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Nasadiya sukta]]
*[[Hiranyagarbha sukta]]
*[[Hinduism and monotheism]]
*[[List of Hindu deities]]
*[[Creation myth]]
*[[Saptarishi]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'' ({{ISBN|0-500-51088-1}}) by Anna Dhallapiccola

==External links==
*[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Prajapati-Hindu-deity Prajapati: Hindu Deity], ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''

{{Hindudharma}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hindu gods]]
[[Category:Prajapatis| ]]
[[Category:Nature gods]]
[[Category:Creator gods]]
[[Category:Nature gods in Hinduism]]

Prajapati - Revision history

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