Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.2382

c4.2382

1) Long ago, towards the end of the age of floods, the earth was in a liquid state. At that time, Śiva cut open his thigh and let fall a drop of blood in the water. It assumed the form of an "aṇḍa" (egg). Śiva took that aṇḍa and split it. A man came out of it. From him was made Nature (Prakṛti) for the creation of the Universe. One half of the broken aṇḍa became sky and the other half became the earth. (Kathāsaritsāgara, Kathāpīṭha-lambaka, 2nd Taraṅga).