Creation myths are those myths that explain how the world came to be as it is and how it all started. The Rig Veda in particular, does not offer a single theory of creation but many theories. The Rig Veda deals with cosmogony and anthropogony of Hinduism.

There is a traditionalist view that creation is the process of developing order out of chaos. There is an example given in the Rig Veda which says that the primeval man is changed into many life forms which is not an actual creation out of nothing, but rather a re-arrangement.

There are also many other views that state that for the creation of something new- something must perish. There is a prime example in the Rig Veda which states that the man (purusha) has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. It also states that all creatures make only a quarter of him. It has also been written how the social norms were formed as it is specified that,:” His mouth was the Brahman, his arms were made into the nobles, his two thighs were the populace, and from his feet the servants were born”.(page 28, Hindu Myths, Wendy Doniger). Through this we know how the Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudra’s were created respectively according to the Rig Veda. It is also interesting that whenever something gets created, incest is almost always involved. We can see this in the Rig Veda in which the universe was formed from the seed of the father when he was satisfying his desires for his daughter.

There are also a lot of creation myths of the western society. If we do the comparison between the creation myths in the Rig Veda and the myth of Adonis more specifically, we can see that they share some similarities but also have some differences. Both these myth have incest in them, but the difference is that in the myths of the Rig Veda, the father has sexual desires for the daughter and in Adonis, it is the opposite as it is the daughter who has sexual feelings for her father. In the Ovid version of Adonis, even after his death, Venus mourned his death and she sprinkled nectar on his Adonis’s blood and thus sprouted the flower anemone. So even though Adonis has multiple versions, there is still the creation of something new.

In a religious sense creation myths deals with theology and it also helps us to find answers to questions such as- how and when did we come into existence? All religions have their own creation myths such as Christians have their old testament and the myth of Adam and Eve and Hindu’s have their Rig Veda etc. A lot of creation myths deal with theology in the formation of the universe. They also put our imagination to the test as we see the absurd ways in which they have described the creation of the universe.

In a literary sense creation myths helps us to compare them with myths of the western society so that we can find the difference in texts. They also help us date when the texts were first written. Also since ancient times myths were verbally passed down from generation to generation and thus over the years the myths would be told and retold and could be changed. This also helps us to find multiple versions of the myth that has been retold over the years.