Man has a habit of thinking. This thinking could be rational or imaginative. Out of this man has created myths around himself. It would be wrong to judge puranas as man’s imagination. Puranas could be the representation of facts in an exaggerated way. It is also important to consider the puranas while studying the history of India. One cannot just neglect it or call it unreal. Puranas are religious Hindu texts about kings, gods and their incarnations, sages, the universe’s creation and destruction and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography. Like the Vedas, Puranas were remembered orally, in the later period they were modified and written.
The Creation of the World
In the Puranas there are various accounts of creation of the world
The Union of Sky and Earth:
The simplest concept is the sexual union of the parent Gods, Sky and Earth, Sky as father and Earth as mother. Their marriage results in rain, which fertilizes the Mother Earth, which gives birth to the living beings on earth. Together they form Dyavaprthivi.
World Egg:
Life emerged from an egg floating on the water. In Sanskrit it is called the Brahmanda (Brahma means Universe and Anda, Egg). The egg split in two, one half gold and the other silver. The silver half became earth, the golden half the sky, the white membrane became the mountains, membranes the clouds and mist, the small veins the rivers, the fluid the sea and from that the sun “ Aditya” was born.
The other concept is, the waters desired to reproduce, so they toiled and heated. When they heated a golden egg was produced. The egg floated for a year and then a man “Prajapati” was produced from it. In Mahabharta, Brahma is said to born from the golden egg.
Primeval Giant:
Gods performed a sacrifice with a giant. Due to which Giant’s body became the sky, navel the air and his feet the earth. The moon sprang from his mind and the sun from his eyes, from his mouth emerged “Indra” and “Agni” and he breathed “Vayu”. The four varnas arose from him, his mouth the Brahmana, arms the Rajanya, thighs the Vaishyas and feet the Sudras.
Click on to read more
The Creation of the World
In the Puranas there are various accounts of creation of the world
The Union of Sky and Earth:
The simplest concept is the sexual union of the parent Gods, Sky and Earth, Sky as father and Earth as mother. Their marriage results in rain, which fertilizes the Mother Earth, which gives birth to the living beings on earth. Together they form Dyavaprthivi.
World Egg:
Life emerged from an egg floating on the water. In Sanskrit it is called the Brahmanda (Brahma means Universe and Anda, Egg). The egg split in two, one half gold and the other silver. The silver half became earth, the golden half the sky, the white membrane became the mountains, membranes the clouds and mist, the small veins the rivers, the fluid the sea and from that the sun “ Aditya” was born.
The other concept is, the waters desired to reproduce, so they toiled and heated. When they heated a golden egg was produced. The egg floated for a year and then a man “Prajapati” was produced from it. In Mahabharta, Brahma is said to born from the golden egg.
Primeval Giant:
Gods performed a sacrifice with a giant. Due to which Giant’s body became the sky, navel the air and his feet the earth. The moon sprang from his mind and the sun from his eyes, from his mouth emerged “Indra” and “Agni” and he breathed “Vayu”. The four varnas arose from him, his mouth the Brahmana, arms the Rajanya, thighs the Vaishyas and feet the Sudras.
Click on to read more
No comments:
Post a Comment