Shloka 9
Matsya Purana — The Greatness of Prayaga and Allied Tirthas
तत्र वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च मूर्तिमन्तो युधिष्ठिर प्रजापतिम् उपासन्ते ऋषयश्च तपोधनाः //
tatra vedāśca yajñāśca mūrtimanto yudhiṣṭhira prajāpatim upāsante ṛṣayaśca tapodhanāḥ //
There, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the Vedas and the sacrifices—having assumed embodied form—worship Prajāpati; and so too do the sages, rich in austerity.
FAQs
It presents a cosmological hierarchy in which Prajāpati stands as a central progenitive principle, revered even by the Vedas and Yajña personified—implying an ordered creation sustained through sacred knowledge and ritual rather than describing dissolution directly.
By showing that even the Vedas and sacrifices ‘worship’ the cosmic progenitor, it reinforces that a king or householder should uphold Vedic study and yajña as foundational duties (dharma) that align society with the sustaining order of creation.
Ritually, it elevates yajña as a living, potent principle (not merely a procedure), encouraging meticulous performance of sacrifices and reverence for the Vedas—an outlook that also underpins later Matsya Purāṇa prescriptions for temple and ritual correctness.