The Geography of the Puranas c13.s5.3

c13.s5.3

The Purāṇas mention three kinds of dissolution: (1) incidental (2) elemental and (3) absolute. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā and occurs at the end of each Kalpa. A Kalpa calculated according to the Purāṇic texts is equal to 4,320 million years. The elemental is that which takes place after two Parārddha. A Parārddha is represented by 10¹⁸ years (Viṣṇu P.) or 10¹⁵ years (Vāyu P.). The absolute is final liberation A similar account of the first aggregation of the elements in the form of an egg is given in all the Purāṇas with the usual epithet Haima or Hiraṇya (golden). The symbolic representation of the nucleus from which the Universe was created and which undoubtedly has its origin in the Vedas was adopted by many nations. Traces of it occur amongst the Syrians, the Persians, the Egyptians and the Greeks. The idea of the Orphic Egg amongst the Greeks and that described by Aristophanes as well as the consecration of an egg as a part of the ceremony in the Dionysiaca and other mystics show how far the concept of a nucleus from which the Universe grew was embedded in the philosophy of ancient nations. If we interpret the epithet Haima or Hiraṇya (golden) as 'bright and reddish yellow' and the word 'water' as 'water-vapour', i.e., in its gaseous state we can see in the description of the Golden Egg the origin of the idea of a 'hot, incandescent nebula' which is the starting point of modern cosmological theories.