page_title: Hindu views on evolution
section_title: Brahmanas
hierarchical_section_title: Hindu views on evolution / Hindu / Creation myths / Brahmanas
caption_attribution_description: English: Matsya pulls a boat carrying Manu and Saptarishi during Pralaya Author: Ramanarayanadatta astri Volume: 2 Publisher: [Gorakhpur Geeta Press] Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT Language: Hindi Call number: AAO-3248 Digitizing sponsor: University of Toronto Book contributor: Robarts - University of Toronto Collection: robarts; toronto Full catalog record: MARCXML [Open Library icon]This book has an editable web page on Open Library.
context_page_description: Hinduism includes a range of viewpoints about the origin of life, and evolution. There is no single story of creation, due to dynamic diversity of Hinduism, and these are derived from various sources like Vedas, some from the Brahmanas, some from Puranas; some are philosophical, based on concepts, and others are narratives. The Rigveda mentions the Hiranyagarbha as the source of the creation of the Universe, similar to the world egg motif found in the creation myths of many other civilizations. It also contains a myth of proto-Indo-European origin, in which the creation arises out of the dismemberment of a cosmic being who is sacrificed by the gods. As for the creation of the primordial gods themselves, the Nasadiya Sukta of Rigveda takes a near-agnostic stand, stating that the Gods came into being after the world's creation, and nobody knows when the world first came into being. In the later Puranic texts, the creator god Brahma is described as performing the act of 'creation', or more specifically of 'propagating life within the universe'. Some texts consider him equivalent to the Hiranyagarbha or the Purusha, while others state that he arose out of these.
context_section_description: The Shatapatha Brahmana mentions a story of creation, in which the Prajapati performs tapas to reproduce himself. He releases the waters and enters them in the form of an egg that evolves into the cosmos. The Prajapati emerged from the golden egg, and created the earth, the middle regions and the sky. With further tapas, he created the devas. He also created the asuras, and the darkness came into the being. It also contains a story similar to the other great flood stories. After the great flood, Manu the only surviving human, offers a sacrifice from which Ida is born. From her, the existing human race comes into the being.
caption: The fish avatara of Vishnu saves Manu, the progenitor of the existing human race, during the great deluge.
exif: {}