A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.663

c5.663

HIRANYA-GARBHA. ‘Golden egg’ or ‘golden womb.’ In the *Rig-veda* Hiranya-garbha “is said to have arisen in the beginning, the one lord of all beings, who upholds heaven and earth, who gives life and breath, whose command even the gods obey, who is the god over all gods, and the one animating principle of their being.” According to Manu, Hiranya-garbha was Brahmā, the first male, formed by the undiscernible eternal First Cause in a golden egg resplendent as the sun. “Having continued a year in the egg, Brahmā divided it into two parts by his mere thought, and with these two shells he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters.” *See* Brahmā.