Prachetas

Pracetas (Sanskrit: प्रचेतस्) lit. '"the prescient one"'^{[1] [2]} is a term in Hindu mythology with a number of definitions:

• It is an epithet of Varuna.^[3]
• It is a name of one of the ten Prajapatis, the son of Suvarna, a law giver.^[4]
• It is the name of the grandson of the sage Marichi^[5] and Kala, Varuna, the water god who is their grandson through their son Kashyapa and his wife Aditi.
• It is the designation for a group of beings in the Vedas.
• It is the collective term for the ten great-grandsons of Prithu and Archi.

The ten Prachetas paying homage to Shiva

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.^[6]

In the Rig Veda Mantra 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.^[7] but in the Rig Veda Mantra 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).^[8]

Puranas

Prachetas burn the forest

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.^[9] 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 they had passed ten thousand years in the great ocean deep in meditation upon Vishnu who made them the progenitors of mankind.^[10]

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, who begot sons called Daksha Pracetas. There were 49 kings up to Daksha Pracetas.^[11] 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.^[12] Brahma, however, requested that they not do so, and solemnized their marriage with Marisha; it was their union that gave second body to Daksha Prajapati.^[13]

References

1. "Prachetas translation". Babylon 10.
2. "[P] Piabdhi-Pramana". Osho Su.
3. www.wisdomlib.org (2017-04-18). "Praceta: 3 definitions". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
4. Helena Petrovna Balavatsky (January 1993). The Secret Doctrine Vol.1. Quest Books. p. 578. ISBN 9780835602389.
5. www.wisdomlib.org (2019-11-24). "Ramayana: Chapter LXX". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
6. "The Five Senses" (PDF). The Lunar Messenger – circle of goodwill.
7. Rig Veda. Agniveer. 10 November 2013. p. 175.
8. Vidyanand Videh. Vedic Prayers. Veda Sansthaan, Ajmer. p. 32.
9. Oriental Translation Fund Vol.52. 1840. p. 443.
10. John Dowson (1870). A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion. Trübner & Company. p. 237. prachetas.
11. J.P.Mittal (2006). History of Ancient India: from 7200 B.C. to 4250 B.C. Atlantic Publishers. p. 32,33. ISBN 9788126906154.
12. B.K.Chaturvedi (2006). Vishnu Purana. Diamond Pocket Books. p. 37. ISBN 9788171826735.
13. Mahesh Sharma (2005). Tales from the Puranas. Diamond Pocket Bokks. p. 162. ISBN 9788128810404.