Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s1.8

c5.s1.8

The earth and the sky (heaven) were sometimes conceived as circular like was void and nothing existed at the beginning; the undifferentiated waters were enveloped in darkness and space; heat produced the one primordial substance; then arose desire, the first seed of mind.²⁸ This is the bond between the existent and the non-existent, and the gods came into being by this emanation. The *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa*²⁹ says that nothing existed formerly—neither heaven nor atmosphere, which ‘being non-existent resolved to come into being.’ Here the creator is Prajāpati, the anthropomorphic representation of the Ṛgvedic ‘desire, the first seed of mind’. According to the *Chāndogya Upaniṣad*,³⁰ the non-being became being which changed into an egg that split after a year and became heaven and earth, while the sun, which is Brahman, was also produced.