236 The Religion of the Veda
was not 2753 s/zsm of night we [fig/2.2? of day, T/zazf 0726’ dwarf/zed, wit/th timer/1:, éy fame flower ; z‘lmn it truly aotkz'ng‘ whatever else existed 545322163. ”
The poet is careful in his thought of what posi« tively was. It is “That One ” (Jan? seam); it exists and breathes, but it breathes in a higher sense, with out breath (literally “wind ”) which is physical and material. It is difficult to imagine a more cautious, or even a more successful attempt to conceive and express a first cause or principle without personality. Yet we must not fail to observe that even so subtle a conception as the neuter “ That One ” is furnished with the anthropomorphic attribute of breath, be cause after all, in the long run, it must be decked out in some sort of flesh. and blood. The third stanza takes up anew the description of chaos, and follows it up with a second description of the primal force:
' THIRD STANZA.
“ Defiance: Mere was, hidden 25y (far/tees: 42' Mac degz'nm’szg'; m2 mzz'llzzmz'md 05am: was Z/zz's all. 77M Zz'm'ag force w/iz'c/z was enveloped 2'72 42 Mail, we; was éy Z/zs mag/z! of dsworz'malfirwr was 50m.”
Unquestionably we have here the idea, frequently expressed in the Brahmana tales of the creator Praj'apati..ll According to this the primal being bear
1 See below, p. 240.
-- ..n.._.._n..+........ _..._.-.-Hu -.—.. -1. -
