INDIA

There are many interpretations of the Indian creation myth. They are all representations of the main principle of Brahman, which is described as being "everywhere and nowhere, everything and nothing." (A Dictionary of Creation Myths, p.139, David Leeming and Margaret Leeming)

Creation came from Brahman's thought, or the actions of the god Brahma, who is the representation of Brahman as a man.

One version is taken from fragments found in the first and tenth hymn books in the Rig Veda. Heaven reached out to his daughter Earth, and with the passion created by the god of fire Agni, Heaven's seed spilled onto earth. From this seed came words and rituals. Angirases also emerged from the seed They were arbitrators between the gods and humans, and distributed gifts from the gods. Heaven and Earth are our parents.

Another myth from the tenth book of the Rig Veda concerns the dismemberment of a being out of which the world emerges. Purusa, a primal man with a thousand heads and a thousand feet, covered earth. He was "the universe, the here and the there, the now and the always." (A Dictionary of Creation Myths, p.140, David Leeming and Margaret Leeming) When the primal man was dismembered, his bottom quarter became our world, his mouth spewed words and became the god Indra, his arms turned into the warrior caste, his thighs became the common people, and his feet became "the lowest of the low". From the dismemberment came also the animals, plants, rituals, sacred words and the Vedas. The moon was born from his mind, the sun from his eye, the wind from his breath, the sky from his head, earth from his feet and the atmosphere from his belly button.

One more hymn of creation is found in the tenth book of the Rig Veda. It explains that opposites are needed - without Non-Being there cannot be Being and vice versa. Wise people say Being must have come before Non-Being, because how could something come from nothing? It also says that perhaps not even the creator knows what came first in the very beginning. The following is a translation of the hymn by A.L. Basham. Reprinted from The Wonder That Was India, London, 1954, 247-248:

1	The even nothingness was not, nor existence. There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping? Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?
2	Then there was neither death nor immortality, nor was there then the torch of night and day. The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining. There was that One then, and there was no other.
3	At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness. All this was only unillumined water. That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing, arose at last, born of the power of heat.
4	In the beginning desire descended on it-- that was the primal seed, born of the mind. The sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom know that which is, is kin to that which is not.
5	And they have stretched their cord across he void, and know what was above, and what below. Seminal powers made fertile might forces. Below was strength, and over it was impulse.
6	But, after all, who knows, and who can say whence it all came, and how creation happened? The gods themselves are later than creation, so who knows truly whence it has arisen?
7	Whence all creation had its origin, he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not, he, who surveys it all from highest heaven, he knows--or maybe even he does not know.

Other Indian creation myths are found in sacred texts called the Brahmanas which date back to 1000 BC.

This myth, from the Satapatha Brahmana, explains that in the beginning there was nothing but the primeval sea. The waters wanted to reproduce and became heated through devotions. They made a golden egg that floated around for some time. Prajapati came out of the egg, taking a year to do so, which is now the amount of time it takes for a woman or cow to give birth. Prajapati then rested on its shell for another year before trying to speak. The first sound he made became earth, the next became the sky, and others became the seasons.

He waited another year and then stood up in his shell. He could see through time, from the beginning of his life until its end which would come in a thousand years.

Prajapati gave himself the ability to reproduce. It is speculated that he created the god Agni out of himself. His hot breath directed at the sky created gods, and then there was light. When he directed his breath down, the Asuras were created, as was the darkness of earth. Prajapati overcame Asuras with evil to avoid a struggle between light and dark. Out of this, day and night emerged.

Prajapati is time, and with his creating beings, he had created time.

Prajapati and his daughter (the sky or dawn), in Aitareya Brahmana, come together as a stag and a doe. The gods are horrified by the act, so they created Rudra to punish Prajapati.

Prajapati was struck by Rudra's arrows and his seed was spilled and became a lake. The gods said the lake must remain pure, so the seed of man to this day remains pure. The seed was given heat by the gods and Agni made it flow. The seed became the Aditya (sun gods) and cattle, among other things.

The Kausitaki Brahmana explains that when Prajaptai wanted children, he practiced asceticism which created great heat, so that he gave birth to fire, the sun, the moon, the wind and the female dawn. Those five were ordered to pratice asceticism also, and so they did. Dawn took the form of a beautiful nymph, so that when the other four children saw her, their seed flowed. They told their father, and he made them a golden bowl to collect the seed in. A thousand-armed god came out of the bowl and demanded a name from his father before he would eat. He was given the name Bhava (existence).

The next myth comes from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which dates from 1500 BC. Brahman was all that existed in the beginning. He looked around and felt fear, even though there was nothing else around him to fear. Brahman took the form of Brahma, a creator. He then created a man and a woman by splitting his body in two. The two saw each other as husband and wife, and made love. The woman became scared because she didn't understand -- if her and her husband were of the same being, how could they make love? So she turned herself into a cow, in the hopes of hiding from her husband. He found her though, and turned into a bull and they gave birth to cattle. The wife then turned into another animal, but her husband found her again, and it was in this way that the creatures of the earth were born.

Indian myths believe there were four ages of man. The world has been created and destroyed many times, and the only one who knows exactly the numbers is Brahma the Creator. In each cycle of creation there was an age of man to accompany it, and these were the following:

- the age of Satva (goodness; AKA golden age): which lasted 4000 years and was followed by a transition period that lasted 400 years. This was the age in which people were born in pairs, enjoyed life, were never sad, never worried, ate whatever they found, never worked, never hated and never became fatigued. These people didn't need homes because the weather was always perfect. Characteristic: meditation.

- the age of Rajas (energy): which lasted 3000 years and was followed by a transition period of 300 years. This was the age when trees grew and rain fell. The trees became homes and shelter for people and provided them with food. People made sacrifices to the gods. Negative emotions thrived, which led to coveting of material things, stealing and killing. This age died with miserable people. Characteristic: sacrifice.

- the 3rd age, a mixture of the first two: which lasted 2000 years and was followed by a transition period of 200 years. A sage called Vyasa appeared to instruct humanity on morality. People suffered much in this age as a result of things said, thought and done. These people became numb from all the suffering. Knowledge became important in this age because it led to ways of relieving the suffering, which was what the people wanted. Characteristic: knowledge.

- the age of Tamas (darkness): people walked in darkness, ignorant and blind to truth. They knew jealousy and hate and killed holy men who attempted to aid them in finding truth. They degenerated and ended up scavenging for food, having a difficult time doing anything. Those who survived the dark age would have a chance at finding peace and getting back some of the golden age of man.