The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.77.2

v1.c11.77.2

There it is said, “that the divine spirit breathed without afflation, single with (Svadhā) her who is sustained within him; other than him nothing existed. First desire was formed in his mind, and that became the original productive seed, (which) since (has been). Darkness there was; (for) this universe was enveloped with darkness, and was undistinguishable (like fluids mixed in) waters: but that mass, which was covered by the husk, was (at length) produced by the power of contemplation. First desire was formed in his mind: and that became the original productive seed; which the wife, recognising by the intellect in their hearts distinguish, in non-entity, as the bond of entity.”³² Purely mataphorical or allegorical as the idea here conveyed is, it soon assumed by literal interpretation a more substantive form; thus in the *Sāmaveda*: “He felt not delight, being alone. He wished another, and instantly became such. He caused his own self to fall in twain, and thus became husband and wife. He approached her, and thus were human beings produced.”³³ The later @H [ 147 ] Vedas, namely, the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads, worked out the figurative language of the Saṃhitās, and developed various myths to establish the rank of this primary mother of creation, and Svadhā gradually passed into Umā, Lakṣmī, and Sarasvatī as consorts of the principal gods who took a share in the act of creation. Elsewhere we recognise her in Isis, Juno and Venus;