Pracetas (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: प्रचेतस्) is a term in Hindu mythology with a number of definitions: * It is an epithet of

Varuna Varuna (; sa, वरुण, , Malay: ''Baruna'') is a Vedic deity associated initially with the sky, later also with the seas as well as Ṛta (justice) and Satya (truth). He is found in the oldest layer of Vedic literature of Hinduism, such ...

. * It is a name of one of the ten

Prajapatis Prajapati ( sa, प्रजापति, Prajāpati, lord and protector of creation) is a Vedic deity of Hinduism. In later literature, Prajapati is identified with the creator god Brahma, but the term also connotes many different gods, depe ...

, the son of Suvarna, a law giver. * It is the name of the grandson of the sage

Marichi Marichi ( sa, मरीचि, Marīci, lit=ray of light) or Mareechi or Marishi is the mind-born son of Brahma, and one of the Saptarishi in Hindu mythology. He is also the father of Kashyapa, and the grandfather of the ''devas'' and the ...

* It is the designation for a group of beings in the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

* It is the collective term for the ten great-grandsons of

Prithu Prithu (Sanskrit: पृथु, ''Pṛthu'', lit. "large, great, important, abundant") is a sovereign ( chakravarti), featured in the Puranas. According to Hinduism, he is an avatar (incarnation) of the preserver god—Vishnu. He is also calle ...

Vedas

''Pracetas'' are those which bring consciousness to the outside, through the development of the senses that are active as sensations. These senses are the five forces of mind, five different angles of reflection; their formation took place with the help of the ''Pracetas''. In the Rig Veda

Mantra A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...

I.41.1 which reads: :''यं रक्षन्ति प्रचेतसो वरुणो मित्रो अर्यमा , '' :''नू चित्स दभ्यते जनः , , '' The word, ''pracetas'', refers to men of knowledge, the men who are learned and wise. but in the Rig Veda

I.5.7 which reads: :''आ त्वा विशन्त्वाशवः सोमास इन्द्र गिर्वणः , '' :''शं ते सन्तु प्रचेतसे , , '' : ''(गिर्वणः इन्द्र) Praise-worthy Lord ! (आशवः सोमासः आ विशन्तु त्वा) Impatient seekers may enter Thee. May they (सन्तु शं) be gratifying (ते) to Thee, (प्र-चेतसे) the super-conscious Being.'' This refers to the "super-conscious" being in whom it is prayed that the "impatient seekers" be allowed to enter (i.e. be merged with).

Puranas

According to the Puranas, Pracetas was a descendant of Druhyu; he was the son of Duryaman who was the son of Dhrita, the great-great-great grandson of Druhyu. Pracetas had one hundred sons who were the princes of the Mlechchhas, the barbarians of the north. Pracetas is one of the Prajapatis, and an ancient sage and law-giver. It is also said that there were ten Pracetas who were the sons of Prāchinabarhis and great grandsons of Prithu; according to the

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana ( IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manusc ...

they had passed ten thousand years in the great ocean deep in meditation upon

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

who made them the progenitors of mankind. As the story goes, the eldest of the ten sons of Prāchinbarhis, collectively known as ''Pracetas'', became the ruler; they cleared forests and made land fit for agriculture; they married the daughters of

Soma Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

, who begot sons called Daksha Pracetas. There were 49 kings up to Daksha Pracetas. The Pracetas emerged from the ocean after their long sojourn to find the Earth covered by trees; they created wind and fire and destroyed the trees.

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

, however, requested that they not do so, and solemnized their marriage with Marisha; it was their union that gave second body to Daksha Prajapati.

References

{{Indian philosophy, state=collapsed Rigveda Hindu philosophical concepts Puranas Sanskrit words and phrases