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The role of distinguished characters occupying the seat of Prajapathi are attributed to many things ranging from King of Booloka, Law giver, maker and protector of forests and the species in them, etc. My questions are the following,

  1. Are all Prajapathi's Brahmakumaras?
  2. What is the exact role/dominion of Prajapathis? Is it only a few aspects of Shristi Paripalanam or complete sovereignty over the same?
  3. What is the difference between the role of Prajapathi and Manu(both being described as law givers)?
  4. How often does the occupier of the title of Prajapati change?
  5. Is there only one Prajapathi for each age or many? The following text from this page seems to indicate that many Prajapathis exist in at a given time.

Naradha, Brahma, the four Sanatkumaras and the nine Prajapatis, all came to visit Kardama and Devahuti and the lord in the disguise of Kapila. Now with great joy Kardama gave all his nine daughters in marriage to the nine Prajapatis.

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  • The job of a Prajapati is simply to beget offspring in order to populate creation. Sages like Marichi, Vasishta, etc. were never ruling the world or anything like that. But they're the ancestors of all other created beings. Jun 6, 2015 at 21:47
  • Isn't Manu the progenitor of mankind?
    – Naveen
    Jun 7, 2015 at 0:25
  • Exactly is my question. Is it Prajapati or Manu? And then it is said that Vishnu created Brahma, Brahma opened the Golden Egg and created the Universe and the Heaven. He also created the 4 children from his brains/head. He then created 9 Prajapatis and 14 Manus. If that's the case what the role and difference between Prajapatis and Manus? Jun 9, 2015 at 4:56
  • @Naveen Well, Swayambhuva Manu isn't the exclusive progenitor of mankind; after all, Atri, Marichi and so on were also human and had some human offspring. But more importantly, the Prajapatis gave birth to other beings as well. For instance, Marichi's son Kashyapa was the father of the Adityas, Daityas, and other races. So while Swayambhuva Manu's role was limited to human offspring, the Prajapatis were charged with populating the universe with beings of all kinds. Jun 9, 2015 at 5:10

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Prajapathi's were born from Brahma's mind/ his will, so they are not Physical entities. They are beings that exist without a physical presence. Which is why they did not propagate their "species" as Brahma desired.

Manu was born from Brahma's body i.e. from earth/matter. So they/we are physical beings.

The Prajapathi's due to their lack of physical restrains are more evolved to understand the Nature of Brahma and the nature of this reality. Children of Manu have to fight to get BEYOND their physical restraints to understand the world beyond.

The universe came into existence when Brahma split into Heaven and earth i.e Matter and space. Manu and Man lies on Earth i.e. matter, the prajapathi's and gods, live in Space due to lack of any physical body.

They can manifest a body and can live on earth too, and we can shed our body and live in space once we reach Nirvana / Moksha. I guess we can say we got the raw end of the deal.

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