OF THE VEDAS. 
81 
god," i.e., before lie was bom in the embryo. Here both the 
creator and the immortal waters are represented as separate 
independent existences in the " beginning," and presumably 
from eternity. The same idea appears in E.V., X. 82, 
" That which is beyond the sky, beyond this earth, beyond 
gods and spirits ; what earliest embryo did the waters contain 
in which all the gods were beheld ? " The waters contained 
that earliest embryo in which all the gods were collected. 
One receptacle rested upon the navel of the unborn, wherein 
all the worlds stood. "Te know not him who produced all 
things." What the earliest embryo contained in which all 
the gods were collected, inasmuch as it contained their creator, 
" the sole life of the bright gods,-" was " that which is 
beyond the sky, beyond this earth, beyond gods and spirits," 
he who " produced these things " and not he who was 
produced by them. Here again the existence of the author 
of the universe is represented as separate from, and inde- 
pendent of, the original chaos. The same idea underlies 
E..V., X. 72, 6, 7, " When, gods, ye moved, agitated upon 
those waters, then a violent dust issued from you, as from 
dancers. When gods, ye, like strenuous men, replenished 
the worlds, then ye drew forth the sun which was hidden in 
the (aerial?) ocean." Besides, Varuna, Indra and others 
are represented as establishing and supporting the heavens 
above, fixing and directing the sun in the sky, and setting 
limits to the earth ; assuming that the objects themselves 
in some shape were pre-existent. 
It should be observed, however, that there is a legend in 
the Satapatha Brahmana, in which the primeval waters are 
represented as generating an egg, and the egg bringing forth 
Prajapati, the creator of the world. " In the beginning this 
universe was waters, nothing but water. The waters desired, 
* how can we be produced ? ' so saying they toiled, they 
performed austerity. While they were performing austerity, 
a golden egg came into existence. From it, in a year, a 
