yet is contained "in the drop of water" (iv. 16), a Varuna as
different to the Varuna of the Rik as is the Atharvan Indra to his
older prototype. Philosophically the Rik, at its close, declares that
"desire is the seed of mind," and that "being arises from not-being."

In the Br[=a]hmanas the creator is the All-god in more anthropomorphic
form. The Father-god, Praj[=a]pati, or Brahm[=a] (personal equivalent
of _brahma_) is not only the father of gods, men, and devils, but he
is the All. This Father-god of universal sovereignty, Brahm[=a],
remains to the end the personal creator. It is he who will serve as
creator for the Puranic S[=a]nkhya philosophy, and even after the rise
of the Hindu sects he will still be regarded in this light, although
his activity will be conditioned by the will of Vishnu or Civa. In
pure philosophy there will be an abstract First Cause; but as there is
no religion in the acknowledgment of a First Cause, this too will soon
be anthropomorphized.

The Br[=a]hmanas themselves present no clear picture of creation. All
the accounts of a personal creator are based merely on
anthropomorphized versions of the text 'desire is the seed.'
Praj[=a]pati wishes offspring, and creates. There is, on the other
hand, a philosophy of creation which reverts to the tale of the
'golden germ.'[62] The world was at first water; thereon floated a
cosmic golden egg (the principle of fire). Out of this came Spirit
that desired; and by desire he begat the worlds and all things. It is
improbable that in this somewhat Orphic mystery there lies any
pre-Vedic myth. The notion comes up first in the golden germ and
egg-born bird (sun) of the Rik. It is not specially Aryan, and is
found even among the American Indians.[63] It is this Spirit with
which the Father-god is identified. But guess-work philosophy then
asks what upheld this god, and answers that a support upheld all
things. So Support becomes a god in his turn, and, since he must reach
through time and space, this Support, Skambha, becomes the All-god
also; and to him as to a great divinity the Atharvan sings some of its
wildest strains. When once speculation is set going in the
Br[=a]hmanas, the result of its travel is to land its followers in
intellectual chaos.[64] The gods create the Father-god in one passage,
and in another the Father-god creates the gods. The Father creates the
waters, whence rises the golden egg. But, again, the waters create the
egg, and out of