A Guide to Understanding Cosmogonic Myths and Theoretical Science
Egypt | Indian Subcontinent | North American Indian | Myth of Ausar | Myth of Brahma | Zuni Myth | Bibliography
Cosmogony of the Pyramid Texts (c.2800 BCE) Heliopolis
While reposing in Nun (primordial waters) in order to keep from being extinguished, Atum kept his eyes shut and remained enclosed in a lotus until weary of his own impersonality he rose by an effort of will. He rose in splendor as Ra (sun) or Atum-Ra. He then bore his children, Su and Tefnut. (In one account, Su and Tefnut are produced by a personal act "from his seed and by his fingers").
At the same time, Ra creates the first universe different from the "present one and men are produced from his tears." He governs his universe from a palace in Heliopolis. The texts describe his comings and goings, his trips and his breakfasts. Eventually, Ra gets old and senile. Men plot against him. In anger he decides to destroy his creation. He borrows an eye from the goddess Hathor and hurls it into the world. There follows a pitiless massacre. Ra then changes his mind and decides not to permit total extermination. He determines to leave the world forever, and is carried to the vault of heaven on the back of the goddess Nut (pictured as a calf of gold or bull) at which time the "present" world is created. He rides the heavens endlessly in his boat - 12 hours above and l2 hours below.
Cosmogony of the Coffin Texts or Book of the Dead (c.1650 BCE) Heliopolis
After emergence, Atum sits on a hillock. "Thou didst spit out what was Su; thou didst sputter out what was Tefnut. Thou didst put thy arms about them as the arms of a Ka (an alter ego or protecting spirit, something like a soul), for thy Ka was in them."
In another version, the creator sits on his hillock and names the parts of his body - whence comes forth the Ennead. In other words, the act of speaking is the act of creation.
Cosmogony of the Shabaka Stone (c. 700 BCE) Memphis
"Well tended are men, the cattle of God. He made heaven and earth according to their desire, and he repelled the water monster (at the time of creation). He made the breath of life for their nostrils. They are his images that have issued from his body. He arises in heaven according to their desire. He made for them plants and animals, fowl and fish, in order to nourish them. He slew his enemies and destroyed even his own children when they plotted rebellion against him."
This creator God is Ptah (the great one), the heart and tongue of the Ennead - "there came into being on the tongue something in the form of Atum. He (Ptah) is throughout every body, and throughout everymouth of all gods, all men, all animals, of all creeping things and whatever likes, by thinking and commanding anything that he wishes." (This latter phrase means Ptah continues to create).
The Memphite cosmogony implies: (1) that creation has a purpose; 2) that creation has a moral purpose; (3) that creation is continuing; 4) a kind of equality which is not found in the cosmogony of Heliopolis.
India is the most mythologized of all civilizations. That is to say that the mythology of the Indian subcontinent was never displaced by other religious movements like Christianity or Islam. There are two major groupings in Indian cosmogony: The Vedic of Aryan India was shaped between 7,000 - 4000 bce in an age that ended in about 3,500 bce. The oldest of the written Vedas is the RG VEDA (hymn) written in Sanscrit between 1500 BCE to 1200 BCE. In the RG VEDA there is a Sky Father - Dyaus Pitar (in Greek - Zeus, in Latin - Jupiter). In the second grouping, Brahmin cosmogony arises from philosophical ideas created on a scale sometimes frightening to westerners. In Brahmin cosmogony there are unnumbered worlds, unnumbered periods of creation, immortal Gods destined to be absorbed into the universe at the end of the cosmic cycle when Lord Shiva dances.
Themes common to Vedic and Brahmin Cosmogony
In the beginning, there were beings called Asuras (living power). One group of Asuras are Danavas (restraint personified). Other Asuras are Adityas (non-bondage, non restraint). The Asuras are actively hostile to one another. During one of their major clashes, the Adityas, who are losing the battle, decide that they need a champion. The champion is Indra and his birth is miraculous - at first he was hidden, drinking soma until he swelled to enormous size thus forcing his parents, Great Earth and Sky apart forever. In so doing he, in effect, made his mother a widow.
Indra is a deva (god). He attacks and kills the Danava Vritrya (evening) and her mother Danu. Out of Vritrya's belly comes cosmic waters - motherly females pregnant with the sun. At this point there is sky, earth, atmosphere, water, heat and light, all that is needed is to set the cosmic world in motion or to establish some kind of order. This cosmic order is called Dharma (in Iran, Asha). Rig Veda - Book X, 129:
Before being and not being there was a dark and watery chaos. Then a germ of life gifted with unity developed a spontaneous heat "tapas" - and came to life. This principle felt and after manifested the need to beget.
Brahmin Cosmogonic Cycles of Creation and Destructions
Brahma is the cosmic dreamer who alternately sleeps and wakes for equal Periods of time. The days and nights of Brahma are calculated to Brahma years, and the Brahma years are calculated to one Brahma lifetime. At the end of a Brahma lifetime all creation dissolves into the body of the cosmic dreamer. One Brahmin Cycle is as follows:
| Age 1 - Kruta Yuga = 400 divine dawn
years + 4,000 full divine Years + 400 twilight Years (4,800
years). Age 2 - Treta Yuga = 3,600 divine Years (including dawn and twilight) Age 3 - DvaPora Yuga = 2,400 divine years (including dawn and twilights) Age 4 - Kali Yuga (which begins 2/17/3102 BCE and continues to the present age) = 1,200 divine Years. Added together, this makes 12,000 divine years in all, or one Great Cycle ("Mahayuga"). A Mahayuga calculcated in terms of human years = 4,320,000 years. One thousand Mahayugas = one Brahma daytime. One full day and night of Brahma is calculated as the equivalent of 4,000,000 divine years * 360 or 8,640,000,000 human years. (Just as in our system the 24 hour day contains 86,400 seconds and each second is the length of time of the human heart beat). 360 days and nights of Brahma = one Brahma year. 100 Brahma years = one Brahma lifetime. Calculated in human years, one Brahma lifetime = 311,040,000,000,000 human years. |
Notes on Time
The Judao-Christian conception of the age of the universe traditionally is measured in thousands of years. The Mayan chronology is measured in millions of years. The Indian conception is in the billions. Roughly, the Indian base date for the beginning of the current age (Kali Yuga), February 17, 3102 BCE is close to the base date of the Maya chronology of 3113 BCE. Of further interest is that these dates in Mesopotamia, in the Babylonian chronology transfer as the dates for the invention of the arts and mathematics.
The Indians of North America believed generally that the universe always existed. For most tribes the main gods represent the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Most recognize a spirit - or mysterious Power of creation.
For the Algonquins, "Kitchi Manitou" is the father of life and himself was never created. The Algonquins believe that they were made by the Michabo (the Great Hare) who also made the earth, invented fishing nets, water, fish and deer. Michabo lives where the sun rises and the souls of good indians go to live with Michabo. According to the Algonquins, there was once a great flood which covered the earth: "Michabo told the raven to bring him a lump of clay to remake the world, but the raven couldn't find any. Michabo then sent an otter, which dived but brought nothing back. At last, Michabo sent a musk rat who returned with some soil which Michabo used to remake the earth and he married musk-mouse by whom he had children to repeople the earth."
For the Navaho the important god is Changing Woman. She ages with the seasons and is restored to girlhood each spring. After timeless seasons of change she decides to unite with the sun. "Changing Woman one day joined with the sun -- she has always existed. From their union spring twins. Changing woman is the creator who gave life to First Man and First Woman. She taught them all their wisdom, lore and magic. First Man and First Woman created the universe and the earth surface people who are mankind." Except for Changing Woman, all the Navaho Gods are humanized and unpredictable - they can be alternately kind or destructive.
When we read the Zuni myth of creation, we are not learning about the beginning in terms of past, present, and future but of that which is unmanifest or hidden, --not in conscious awareness. In the Zuni perspective, an event which occurred in the past as "in the beginning" does not become manifest until it is spoken. Thus, the Zuni story of creation occurs as it is being told; in the telling, creation becomes manifest or apparent, it enters conscious awareness. Similarly, an event which occurs in the present but in another place is considered to be unmanifest (hidden) until it is learned of.
For the Zuni, Nature is manifest, the supernatural is unmanifest. They believe that through the proper conduct of ritual the supernatural is made apparent.
One common theme in the Zuni myths relates to the concept of four: there are the four directions of North, South, East and West; there are four worlds which consist of the two worlds above and the two worlds below; there are four beings, the Sky-Dwellers - the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and the Thunderers (rain-clouds).
Visually, our direct number sense usually stops at four -- after that we have to count.
When Ausar reigned death was not in the land. Arms were not in men's hands; there were not any wars. From end to end of the land music sounded; men and women spoke so sweetly and out of such depth of feeling that all they said was oratory and poetry.
Ausar taught men and women wisdom and he taught them all the arts. He it was he who first planted the vine; he it was who showed men how and when to sow grain and how to plant and tend the fruit-trees; he caused them to rejoice in the flowers also. Ausar made laws for men so that they were able to live together in harmony; he gave them knowledge of the Gods, and he who showed them how the Gods might be honoured.
And this is what he taught them concerning the Gods:
In the beginning was the formless abyss, Nuu. From Nuu came Ra, the Sun. Ra was the first and the last, the most divine of all beings. Ra created all forms. From his thought came Su and Tefnet, the Upper and the lower air. From Su and Tefenet came Qeb and Nut, the Earth and the Sky. The Earth and the Sky had been separated, the one from the other,but once they had been joined together. From the eye of Ra, made out of the essence that is in that eye, came the first man and the first woman.
And from Qeb, the Father, and Nut, the Mother, Ausar was born. When he was born a voice came into the world, crying, "Behold, the Lord of all things is born!"
Along with Ausar was born Auset, his sister. Afterwards was born Tehuti, the Wise One. Then there was born Nebt-het. And, last, there was born Seth. And Seth tore a hole in his mother's side - Seth the Violent One. Now Ausar and Auset loved each other as husband and wife, and together they reigned over the land. Tehuti was with them, and he taught men the arts of writing and of reckoning. Nebt-het went with Seth and was his wife and Seth's abode was in the desert.
Seth, in his desert, was angered against Ausar, for everywhere green things that Seth hated were growing over the land - vine, and grain, and the flowers. Many times Seth tried to destroy his brother Ausar, but always his plots were baffled by the watchful care of Auset. One day he took the measurement of Ausar's body - he took the measurement from his shadow - and he made a chest that was the exact size of Ausar.
Soon, at the time before the season of drought, Seth gave a banquet, and to that banquet he invited all the children of the Earth and the Sky. To the banquet came Tehuti, the Wise One, and Nebt-het, the wife of Seth, and Seth himself, and Auset, and Ausar. And where they sat at banquet they could see the chest that Seth had made - the chest made of fragrant and diversified woods. All admired that chest. Then Seth, as though he would have them enter into a game, told all of them that he would give the chest to the one whose body fitted most closely in it. The children of Qeb and Nut went and laid themselves in the chest that Seth had made: Seth went and laid himself in it Nebt-het went and laid herself in it, Tehuti went and laid himself in it, Auset went and laid herself in it. All were short; none, laid in the chest, but left a space above his or her head.
Then Ausar took the crown off his head and laid himself in the chest. His form filled it in its length and its breadth. Auset and Nebt-het and Tehuti stood above where he lay, looking down upon Ausar, so resplendent of face, so perfect of limb, and congratulating him upon coming into possession of the splendid chest that Seth had made. Seth was not beside the chest then. He shouted, and his attendants to the number of seventy-two came into the banqueting hall. They placed the heavy cover upon the chest; they hammered nails into it; they soldered it all over with melted lead. Nor could Auset, nor Tehuti, nor Nebt-het break through the circle that Seth's attendants made around the chest. And they, having nailed the cover down, and having soldered it, took up the sealed chest, and, with Seth going before them, they ran with it out of the hall.
Auset and Nebt-het and Tehuti ran after those who bore the chest. But the night was dark, and these three children of Qeb and Nut were separated, one from the other, and from Seth and his crew. And these came to where the river was, and they flung the sealed chest into the river. Auset, and Tehuti, and Nebt-het, following the tracks that Seth and his crew had made, came to the river-bank when it was daylight, but by that time the current of river had brought the chest out into the sea.
Auset followed along the bank of the river, lamenting for Ausar. She came to the sea, and she crossed over it, but she did not know where to go to seek for the body of Ausar. She wandered through the world, and where she went bands of children went with her, and they helped her in her circle.
The chest that held the body of Ausar had drifted in the sea. A flood had cast it upon the land. It had lain in a thicket of young trees. A tree, growing, had lifted it up. The branches of the tree wrapped themselves around it; the bark of the tree spread itself around it; at last the tree grew there, covering the chest with its bark.
The land in which this happened was Byblos. The king and queen of the city, Melquart and Astarte, heard of the wonderful tree, the branches and bark of which gave forth a fragrance. The king had the tree cut down; its branches were trimmed off, and the tree was set up as a column in the king's house. And then Auset, coming to Byblos, was told of the wonderful tree that grew by the sea. She was told of it by a band of children who came to her. She came to the place; she found that the tree had been cut down and that its trunk was now set up as a column in the king's house.
She knew from what she heard about the wonderful fragrance that was in the trunk and branches of the tree that the chest she was seeking was within it. She stayed beside where the tree had been. Many who came to that place saw the queenly figure that, day and night, stood near where the wonderful tree had been. But none who came near was spoken to by her. Then the queen, having heard about the stranger who stood there, came to her. When she came near, Auset put her hand upon her head, and thereupon a fragrance went from Auset and filled the body of the queen.
The queen would have this majestical stranger go with her to her house. Auset went. She nursed the queen's child in the hall in which stood the column that had closed in it the column which she sought.
She nourished the queen's child by placing her finger in its mouth. At night she would strip wood from the column that had grown as a tree, and threw the wood upon the fire. And in this fire she would lay tile queen's child. The fire did not injure it at all; it burned softly around the child. Then Auset, in the form of a swallow, would fly around tile column, lamenting.
One night the queen came into the hall where her child was being nursed. She saw no nurse there; she saw her child lying in the fire. She snatched the child up, crying out. Then Auset spoke to the queen from the column on which, in the form of a swallow, she perched. She told the queen that the child would have gained immortality had it been suffered to lie for a night and another night longer within the fire made from the wood of the column. Now it would be long-lived, but not immortal. And she revealed her own divinity to the queen, and claimed the column that had been made from the wonderful tree.
The king had the column taken down; it was split open, and the chest which Auset had a sought for so long and with so many lamentations was within it. Auset wrapped the chest in linen, and it was carried for her out of the king's house. And then a ship was given to her, and on that ship, Auset, never stirring from beside the chest, sailed back to Egypt.
And coming into Egypt she opened the chest, and took the body of her lord and husband out of it. She breathed into his mouth, and, with the motion of her wings (for Auset, being divine, could assume wings), she brought life back to Ausar. And there, away from men and from all the children of Qeb and Nut, Ausar and Auset lived together.
But one night Seth, as he was hunting gazelles by moonlight, came upon Ausar and Auset sleeping. Fiercely he fell upon his brother; he tore his body into fourteen pieces. Then, taking the pieces that were the body of Ausar, he scattered them over the land.
Death had come into the land from the time Ausar had been closed in the chest through the cunning of Seth; war was in the land; men always had arms in their hands. No longer did music sound, no longer did men and women talk sweetly and out of the depths of their feelings. Less and less did grain, and fruit-trees, and the vine flourish. The green places everywhere were giving way to the desert. Seth was triumphant and Nebt-het cowered before him.
And all the beauty and all the abundance that had come from Re would be destroyed if the pieces that had been the body of Ausar were not brought together once more. So Auset sought for them, and Nebt-het, her sister, helped her in her seeking. Auset, in a boat that was made of reeds, floated over the marshes, seeking for the pieces. One, and then another, and then another was found. At last she had all the pieces of his torn body. She laid them together on a floating island, and reformed them. And as the body of Ausar was formed once more, the wars that men were waging died down; peace came; grain, and the vine, and the fruit-trees grew once more.
And a voice came to Auset and told her that Ausar lived again, but that he lived in the Underworld where he was now the Judge of the Dead, and that through the justice that he meted out, men and women had life immortal. And a child of Ausar was born to Auset: Heru he was named. Nebt-het and the wise Tehuti guarded him on a floating island where he was born. Heru grew up, and he strove against the evil power of Seth. In battle he overcame him and in bonds he brought the evil Seth, the destroyer of his father, before Auset, his mother. Auset would not have Seth slain: still he lives, but now he is of the lesser Gods, and his power for evil is not so great as it was in in the time before Heru grew to be the avenger of his father.
Brahma, a masculine term, is the first person of what is sometimes referred to as "the Hindu Trinity". He is essentially a creative god, the father of gods and men.
"Then the august and self-existent Being, he who never unfolded, having unfolded this (universe) under the form of the great elements and others, having shown his energy, appeared to scatter the shades of darkness.
This (Being) who only the spirit can perceive, subtle, without distinct parts, eternal, including in himself all creatures, incomprehensible, appeared spontaneously.
Wishing to draw different creatures from his body, he first by thought produced the waters and deposited his seed in them.
This (seed) became a golden eggs as brilliant as the sun, in which he himself was born (under the form of) Brahma, the first father of all worlds.
The waters are called Naras, they are the daughters of Nara; and since they were his first dwelling-place (ayana) he took the name Narayana.
From this (first) cause, indistinct, eternal, including in itself being and not-being, came the Male, known in the world by the name of Brahma.
In this egg the blessed one remained a whole year, then of himself, by the effort of his thought only, he divided the egg into two.
From the two halves he made heaven and earth, and between them the air and the eight cardinal points and the eternal abode of the waters.
From himself he drew the Spirit, including in itself being and not-being, and from the Spirit he drew the feeling of self which is conscious of personality and is master.
And also the great (principle) the Soul, and all objects which possess the three qualities, and successively the five organs of the senses which perceive material things."
Song of Creation (India)
Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it, What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?
Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider, That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.
Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was undiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of warmth was born that unit.
Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?
He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.
Before the beginning of the new-making, Awonawilona (the Maker and Container of All, the All-father Father), solely had being. There was nothing else whatsoever throughout the great space of the ages save everywhere black darkness in it, and everywhere void desolation.
In the beginning of the new-made, Awonawilona conceived within himself and thought outward in space, whereby mists of increase, steams potent of growth, were evolved and uplifted. Thus, by means of his innate knowledge, the All-container made himself in person and form of the Sun whom we hold to be our father and who this came to exist and appear. With his appearance came the brightening of the spaces with light and with the brightening of the spaces the great mist-clouds were thickened together and fell, whereby was evolved water in water; yea, and the world-holding sea.
With his substance of flesh outdrawn from the surface of his person, the Sun-father formed the seed-stuff of twain worlds, impregnating therewith the great waters, and lo! in the heat of his light these waters of the sea grew green and scums rose upon them, waxing wide and weighty until, behold! they became Awitelin Tsita, the "Four-fold Containing Mother-earth," and Apoyan Tachu, the "All-covering Father-sky."
From the lying together of these twain upon the great world-waters, so vitalizing, terrestrial life was conceived; whence began all beings of earth, men and the creatures, in the Fourfold womb of the World.
Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of the waters below, thus separating from the Sky-father in the embrace of the waters above. As a woman forebodes evil for her first-born ere born, even so did the Earth-mother forbode, long withholding from birth her myriad progeny and meantime seeking counsel with the Sky-father. "How," said they to one another, "shall our children when brought forth, know one place from another, even by the white light of the Sun-father?"
Thus, as a man and woman, spake they, one to the other. "Behold!" said the Earth-mother as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand and within it water, "this is as upon me the homes of my tiny children shall be. On the rim of each world-country they wander in, terraced mountains shall stand, making in one region many. whereby country shall be known from country, and within each, place from place. Behold, again!" said she as she spat on the water and rapidly smote and stirred it with her fingers. Foam formed, gathering about the terraced rim, counting higher and higher. "Yea," said she, "and from my bosom they shall draw nourishment, for in such as this shall they find the substance of life whence we were ourselves sustained. for see!" Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces; white flecks of the foam broke away, and, floating over above the water, were shattered by the cold breath of the Sky-father attending, and forthwith shed downward abundantly fine mist and spray! "Even so, shall white clouds float up from the great waters at the borders of the world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the horizons be borne aloft and abroad by the breaths of the surpassing soul- beings, and of the children, and shall hardened and broken be by thy cold, shedding downward, in rain-spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places of my lap! For therein chiefly shall nestle our children mankind and creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness."
Lo! even the trees on high mountains near the clouds and the Sky-father crouch low toward the Earth-mother for warmth and protection! Warm is the Earth-mother, cold the Sky-father, even as woman is the warm,man the cold being!
"Even so!" said the Sky-father; "Yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto our children, for behold!" and he spread his hand abroad with the palm downward and into all the wrinkles and crevices thereof he set the semblance of shining yellow corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire, and moved as his hand was moved over the bowl, shining up from and also moving in the depths of the water therein. "See!" said he, pointing to the seven grains clasped by his thumb and four fingers, "by such shall our children be guided; for behold, when the Sun-father is not nigh, and thy terraces are as the dark itself (being all hidden therein), then shall our children be guided by lights -- like to these lights of all the six regions turning round the midmost one -- as in and around the midmost place, where these our children shall abide, lie all the other regions of space! Yea! and even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed-grains like to them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom, when touched by my waters to nourish our children." Thus and in other ways many devised they for their offspring.
Social and Behavioral Sciences E-Campus Comments to: joanaa@umd5.umd.edu Content copyright © 1986-1999 Joan A. Andersen; Revised: 27 February 1999 URL: http://www.erols.com/bcccsbs/c3emerge.htm