Creation myths are by very nature, cosmogonical. That is to say, they deal directly withany given culture’s understanding of how the universe came to be. These myths influence the collective worldview of that culture, and shape the manner in which it relates to the natural world, and the universe at large. In this paper, I look at selected Hindu creation myths and attempt to ascribe their significance within the religio-cultural history of South Asia.

Unlike many other religious cultures, cosmogonical myths in the Hindu tradition are not universal, but take shape in different textures of narrative, “each myth celebrating the belief that the universe is boundlessly various, that everything occurs simultaneously, that all possibilities may exist without excluding each other.”(Doniger, Wendy. 1975) Yet, if there is a basic pattern to these narratives, beginning with the Ŗg Veda, it is the carving out of distinguishable elements from the indistinct state of primeval cosmic flux; the idea of forming order out of chaos.

Another pattern that persists through much of Hindu cosmogony is the idea of primeval incest. The Ŗg Veda speaks of an unnamed father who sheds his seed in his daughter, the spillage of which creates the world. There is very little detail offered in terms of names and context.In the Brāhmaņas, a collection of commentaries on the Vedas, this myth is expanded upon. In the AitareyaBrāhmaņa, among the older of these, the father is identified as Prajāpati, the lord of creatures. In this narrative, a certain sense of moral normativity acquires shape in the form of a fuller exploration of the consequences of incest. Here, Prajāpati takes the form of a stag and approaches his daughter-some say she was the sky, some say she was the dawn- who has taken the form of a doe. The gods, who are enraged by this, assemble a fearful deity called Rudra. Rudraasks for, as a boon, the overlordship of cattle. He then goes on to pierce Prajāpati, spilling his seed, and forming a lake. The lake is surrounded by several deities, who transform it into black and tawny cattle, the buffalo, the ox, the antelope, the ass, and the camel.

From a contextual reading of this narrative, it appears that the influence of cosmogonic myths on inhabited reality goes the other way round too, and there exists a complex interplay between the two. The period in which these texts were written was a period during which humans organized themselves in largely pastoral societies. Before money could emerge as a separate institution, cattle were the most important units of wealth. (Davies, Glyn. 2002) The inclusion of cattle and other domesticated animal forms in the creation myths of that period appears to validate their sanctity and value. It is not very unusual therefore, that Rudra asks for the overlordship of cattle, when he could have asked for anything in the universe. Therefore, by seeking to understand the evolution of these myths in the context of the provenance of the divergent narratives in which they take shape, we may also understand how they shape, and are shaped by, society.


References

Doniger, Wendy. 1975. Hindu Myths. London: Penguin

Davies, Glyn. 2002. A History Of Money. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, p.42


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