page_title: Proto-Indo-European mythology
section_title: Creation myth
hierarchical_section_title: Proto-Indo-European mythology / Cosmology / Cosmogony / Creation myth
caption_attribution_description: Yamantaka, Fear-Striking Vajra, Destroyer of Death (Tibetan: Gshin-rje-gshed), multiheaded, holding vajra, rope, dagger, riding a water buffalo, statue of a guardian, enormous strength, Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism, Art Institute, Chicago
context_page_description: Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in prehistoric societies – scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities found among Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.
  The Proto-Indo-European pantheon includes a number of securely reconstructed deities such as *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, the daylight-sky god; his consort *Dʰéǵʰōm, the earth mother; his daughter *H₂éwsōs, the dawn goddess; his sons the Divine Twins; and *Seh₂ul, a solar goddess. Some deities, like the weather god *Perkʷunos or the herding-god *Péh₂usōn, are only attested in a limited number of traditions–Western and Graeco-Aryan, respectively–and could therefore represent late additions that did not spread throughout the various Indo-European dialects.
context_section_description: Lincoln reconstructs a creation myth involving twin brothers, *Manu- ("Man") and *Yemo- ("Twin"), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *Trito ("Third") who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice.
  
  The first man Manu and his giant twin Yemo are crossing the cosmos, accompanied by the primordial cow. To create the world, Manu sacrifices his brother and, with the help of heavenly deities (the Sky-Father, the Storm-God and the Divine Twins), forges both the natural elements and human beings from his remains. Manu thus becomes the first priest after initiating sacrifice as the primordial condition for the world order, and his deceased brother Yemo the first king as social classes emerge from his anatomy (priesthood from his head, the warrior class from his breast and arms, and the commoners from his sexual organs and legs). Although the European and Indo-Iranian versions differ on this matter, Lincoln argues the primeval cow was most likely sacrificed in the original myth, giving birth to the other animals and vegetables, since the pastoral way of life of Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers was closer to that of Proto-Indo-European speakers according to the Kurgan hypothesis.
  To the third man Trito, the celestial gods then offer cattle as a divine gift, which is stolen by a three-headed serpent named *Ngʷhi ("serpent"; and the Indo-European root for negation). Trito first suffers at his hands, but the hero eventually manages to overcome the monster, fortified by an intoxicating drink and aided by the Sky-Father. He eventually gives the recovered cattle back to a priest for it to be properly sacrificed. Trito is now the first warrior, maintaining through his heroic actions the cycle of mutual giving between gods and mortals.
caption: Yama, an Indic reflex of *Yemo, sitting on a water buffalo.
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