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The Geography of the Puranas c13.s2: Vedic Cosmology

The Geography of the Purāṇas c13.s2

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Vedic Cosmology

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The Ṛgveda mentions a number of gods who performed various functions during the process of creation. These gods were the artists who contributed their skill to the construction and completion of the Universe. They wove various materials into a pattern,¹ and shaped the Universe by blasting and smelting.² The Universe was compared to a house and the Rgveda alludes to various stages in the construction of this Universal house.³ References to cosmic dust as the building material of the Universe occur in certain hymns of the Rgveda, i.e. RV (X 81) and (X 82) which are addressed to Viśwakarmā who is anterior to Earth, Heaven, Asuras, gods and other animate and inanimate objects.

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Through all this World strode Viṣṇu;
thrice his foot he planted and the whole
was gathered in his footstep dust. (RV. I-22, 17. Griffith's tr., p. 22)

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and

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When ye, O gods, in yonder deep close-clasping
one another stood
Thence, as of dancers, from your meet
a thickening cloud of dust arose. (RV. X 72, 6. Griffith's tr., p. 486-7).

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The views regarding the mechanical origin of the Universe developed in the last phase of the Rgvedic period. It suggests the sacrifice (or disintegration) of the primeval body known as Ādi-Puruṣa who is conceived as the soul and nucleus of the Universe and an embodiment of the Supreme Spirit. The Earth, the Sky, the Wind, the Moon and the Sun, and all terrestrial elements were the results of the dismemberment of the Puruṣa—as a part of sacrificial ceremony.

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The philosophical theory of cosmogony has its origin in the Song of Creation (RV. X 129, 1-4) which says that in the beginning there was neither being (Sat) nor not-being (Asat). There was no atmosphere, no sky, no days and no nights. The space was empty but for a Unit which was born by its own nature perhaps due to its inherent heat. This heat has been explained by Wilson as austerities, but it may conveniently be considered as a physical action in the process of formation of the Universe.

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Desire was the next element which grew within the Unit. This caused the growth of further elements of the Universe and led to its gradual perfection. The Upaniṣads further elaborate this and they hold that Death concealed everything in the beginning. Death being the first existent desired to have a body and as a result of worshipping,⁴ water was produced. The froth of water hardened and formed the crust of the Earth on which Death toiled and produced fire and light. Afterwards Āditya (Sun) and Vāyu (Air) were produced from the same body (Death). Thus:

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In the beginning there was the non-existent. It became existent and then grew. It turned into an egg (aṇḍa). The egg, after lying quiescent for one year, broke into two halves, one of silver and the other of gold. The former became the earth and the latter the heaven, the thick membrane turned into mountains, the thin into clouds, the small veins became rivers and the fluid became the sea. (Chānd. Up., VI. 32-3).

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The instrumental origin of the Universe is based on the occurrence of parent bodies from which the Universe was created. Agni (Fire)⁵, Indra and Soma⁶, Sūrya (Sun)⁷, Indra⁸, Rudra⁹, and the other gods are mentioned as having been instrumental in the creation of the earth and the heaven—the twin parents of the whole Universe. The union of the earth and the heaven results in the birth of the sun, which is the most important agent in the creation of the world. ‘He is the soul of all that moveth or not-moveth, the Sun hath filled the air and earth and heaven’ (RV. I.115, 1. Griffith’s). He is later identified with Prajāpati, Viśwakarmā and sometimes with the Golden Egg and the Unborn Being.

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The Unborn Being is also named as ‘Ātman’ (soul)¹⁰ who produced the Universe through an intermediary body. ‘Ātman’ first of all desired to create ‘worlds’ which he did by creating super-celestial regions of waters, the heaven with its celestial light, the moral earth and the subterranean region of waters. The waters encompass the heaven and the earth and their outer surfaces. The Ātman then produced the Universal Person for further creation and deities to govern the functions of the cosmos. He established hunger and thirst in the Universe and created Matter.

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The central idea of various cosmogonic theories of the Vedic and post-Vedic period appears to be (1) the existence of waters in the beginning and (2) the creation of a cosmic nucleus—Prajāpati (RV. X 121, 7)—the maker of the Universe. This nucleus is often named as Hiranyagarbha (or Golden Egg) which is considered as the source of the existence of all mundane and heavenly entities because it contained fire (heat) within itself. The Aitareya Brāhmana gives more details of cosmogony on the same lines. It says, ‘Prajāpati desired, “May I be propagated? May I be multiplied?” He exhibited fervour and created the worlds, the earth, the atmosphere, the sky; He brooded over the worlds; from these worlds, when brooded over, Agni (fire) was born from the earth, Vāyu (air) from the atmosphere, Āditya (sun) from the sky. He brooded over these luminaries. From these that were brooded over, the Vedas were born, the Rgveda from Agni, the Yajurveda from Vāyu, the Sāmaveda from Āditya….’¹¹ The Kauśitaki Brāhmana goes a step forward. It explains the production of heat by saying that Prajāpati by undergoing penance was heated and there arose Agni (fire), Vāyu (Air), Āditya (Sun), Candramā (Moon) and Uṣā (Dawn). Each of these was ordered by their progenitor to practice penance to effect the propagation of Prajāpati.¹²

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Not only the Purānas but also the basic concepts of cosmology in different parts of the old world conform to the general pattern laid down by the Vedic writers. The Vedic ideas persisted for thousands of years and with local or regional variations are traceable not only in the scriptures of the great religions of the world but also in the legends and mythology and philosophical thought of civilized nations which have found a place in world history.

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*Jewish, Christian and Muslim Cosmogony*

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The opening chapter of the Old Testament called 'Genesis' describes in brief outline the processes of Creation, as conceived by Moses, and forms the basis of the cosmological ideas of the Jews, Christians and Muslims:

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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day and God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the Waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth: and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was so....

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On the third day God created 'grass and herbs yielding seed and the fruit trees yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth'. On the fourth day, He created the 'two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also'. On the fifth day, living creatures—birds and fishes and reptiles were created and on the sixth day He created animals including man.¹²

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The ideas contained in the Genesis clearly fall under one or more of the theories of cosmogony enunciated in Vedic literature. The work of the first day was the creation of the Universe from *nothing material*; out of which earth and heaven, fire and water and life were to be evolved. It is interpreted that the *material* was the *hyle* or chaos of the ancient philosophers and the words 'heaven' and 'earth' referred to 'chaos'. The word 'earth' in the dictum 'The earth was without form and void' referred to the primordial mixture of land and water, a mingling of land that was not solid and of water that was not liquid. Air and fire at that time were of about the density of water. Similar explanations are applicable to various Vedic materialistic theories.

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The Koran as mentioned above repeats the words of Moses and casually mentions that the process of creation is a manifestation of the Desire of the Supreme Being.

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Lo! your Lord is Allāh who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then He established Himself upon the Throne directing all things. There is no intercessor (with Him) save His permission (Al-Koran, X, 4).

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And He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days—and His Throne was upon the Water—that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct (Al-Koran, XI, 7).

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Allāh it is who raised the Heavens without visible support, then mounted the throne, and compelled the Sun and the Moon to be of service, each runneth unto an appointed time....

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Say (O! Mohamed, unto the idolators): Do you really disbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days, and ascribe to Him rivals? He (and none else) is the Lord of the Worlds. He placed therein hills rising from it, and blessed it and measured therein its sustenance in four days, alike for (all) who ask. Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: come both of you, willingly or loath. They said: 'We come, obedient.'

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Then He ordained them Seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and we decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower (Al-Koran, XLI, 9-12).

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The 'Day' in the above context is defined by the Koran as one of thousand years:

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He directeth the ordinance from the heaven unto the earth: then it ascendeth unto Him in a day, whereof the measure is a thousand years, of that ye reckon.

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With the aid of the above and other quotations from the Koran it is possible to assert, with equal force, either the absolute transcendence over, or the complete immanence, of Allāh in His creation. The first doctrine was developed by scholastic theologians, the second by some extreme Sūfī extremists.

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