World egg

The world egg, cosmic egg or mundane egg is a mythological motif

found in the cosmogonies of many cultures that is present in proto-
Indo-European culture[1] and other cultures and civilizations.
Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe
or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the
egg, sometimes lain on the primordial waters of the Earth.[2][3]

Eggs symbolize the unification of two complementary principles

(represented by the egg white and the yolk) from which life or
existence, in its most fundamental philosophical sense, emerges.

Contents
Vedic mythology
Jacob Bryant's Orphic Egg (1774)
Zoroastrian mythology
Illyrian mythology
Egyptian mythology
Phoenician mythology
Chinese mythology
Finnish mythology
Polynesian mythology
Dogon mythology
Representations
Modern mythology
In modern cosmology
See also
References
Sources
External links

Vedic mythology
The earliest idea of the "cosmic egg" comes from some of the Sanskrit scriptures. The Sanskrit term for it is
Brahmanda ( ा ड) which is derived from two words - 'Brahma' ( ा) the 'creator god' in Hinduism and
'anda' (अ ड) meaning 'egg'. Certain Puranas such as the Brahmanda Purana speak of this in detail.

The Rig Veda (RV 10.121) uses a similar name for the source of the universe: Hiranyagarbha ( हर यगभ)
which literally means "golden fetus" or "golden womb" and is associated with the universal source Brahman
where the whole of all existence is believed to be supported.[4][5] The Upanishads elaborate that the
Hiranyagarbha floated around in emptiness for a while, and then broke into two
halves which formed Dyaus (the Heavens) and Prithvi (Earth). The Rig Veda has
a similar coded description of the division of the universe in its early stages.

Zoroastrian mythology
According to Zoroastrian cosmology, the period of (material) creation, also to last
3,000 years, began after the treaty, when Ohrmazd recited the Ahunwar (Av.
Ahuna Vairiia) prayer, revealing to Ahriman his ultimate defeat and causing him
to fall back into the darkness in a stupor, which lasted for the entire period of the
creation. During this time Ohrmazd fashioned his creations in material (gētīg)
Vivasvan, Rahu, Bhūmi,
form, by celebrating a “spiritual yasna”. He placed each creation under the Naraka, Ananta,
protection of one of the seven Amahraspands (Av. Aməša Spənta). First he Garbhodaksayi Vishnu
created the sky (protected by Šahrewar, Av. Xšaθra Vairiia), which enclosed the
world like the shell of an egg. The second creation was water (protected by
Hordād, Av. Haurvatāt), which filled the lower half of the “egg.” The third
creation, earth (protected by Spandārmad, Av. Spənta Ārmaiti), shaped like a flat
disk, floated on the primeval waters. On it stood the fourth, fifth, and sixth
creations, respectively the single plant or tree (protected by Amurdād; Av.
Amərətāt), the uniquely created bull (protected by Wahman, Av. Vohu Manah),
and the first man, Gayōmard (Av. Gaiiō.marətan, protected by Ohrmazd
himself). The seventh creation, fire (protected by Ardwahišt; Av. Aṧa Vahišta),
was said to have permeated all other creations. During the 3,000 years of the
period of material creation these creations were motionless, and the sun stood still This is one of many
in the middle of the sky.[6] material universes,
Brahmandas, which
expand from Mahavishnu
Illyrian mythology when He breathes.

The Orphic Egg in the ancient Greek Orphic tradition is the cosmic egg from
which hatched the primordial hermaphroditic deity Phanes/Protogonus (variously equated also with Zeus, Pan,
Metis, Eros, Erikepaios and Bromius) who in turn created the other gods.[7] The egg is often depicted with a
serpent wound around it.

Many threads of earlier myths are apparent in the new tradition. Phanes was believed to have been hatched
from the World-Egg of Chronos (Time) and Ananke (Necessity) or Nyx (Night). His older wife Nyx called
him Protogenus. As she created nighttime, he created daytime. He also created the method of creation by
mingling. He was made the ruler of the deities and passed the sceptre to Nyx. This new Orphic tradition states
that Nyx later gave the sceptre to her son Uranos before it passed to Cronus and then to Zeus, who retained it.

Egyptian mythology
The ancient Egyptians accepted multiple creation myths as valid, including those of the Hermopolitan,
Heliopolitan, and Memphite theologies. Under the Hermopolitan theology, there is the Ogdoad, which
represents the conditions before the gods were created (Van Dijk, 1995). An aspect within the Ogdoad is the
Cosmic Egg, from which all things are born. Life comes from the Cosmic Egg; the sun god Ra was born from
the primordial egg in a stage known as the first occasion (Dunand, 2004).

Phoenician mythology
A philosophical creation story traced to "the cosmogony of Taautus, whom Philo of Byblos explicitly
identified with the Egyptian Thoth—"the first who thought of the invention of letters, and began the writing of
records"— which begins with Erebus and Wind, between which Eros 'Desire' came to be. From this was
produced Môt which seems to be the Phoenician/Ge'ez/Hebrew/Arabic/Ancient Egyptian word for 'Death' but
which the account says may mean 'mud'. In a mixed confusion, the germs of life appear, and intelligent
animals called Zophasemin (explained probably correctly as 'observers of heaven') formed together as an egg,
perhaps. The account is not clear. Then Môt burst forth into light and the heavens were created and the various
elements found their stations.

Following the etymological line of Jacob Bryant one might also consider with regard to the meaning of Môt,
that according to the Ancient Egyptians Ma'at was the personification of the fundamental order of the
universe, without which all of creation would perish. She was also considered the wife of Thoth.

Chinese mythology
In the myth of Pangu, developed by Taoist monks hundreds of years after Lao Zi, the universe began as an
egg that symbolizes the primordial state of Taiji. A primeval hermaphroditic giant named Pangu, born inside
the egg, broke it into two halves: the upper half became the sky, while the lower half became the earth. As the
god grew taller, the sky and the earth grew thicker and were separated further. Finally Pangu died and his body
parts became different parts of the earth.

Finnish mythology
In the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, there is a myth of the world
being created from the fragments of an egg laid by a goldeneye on the
knee of Ilmatar, goddess of the air:

One egg's lower half transformed

And became the earth below,
And its upper half transmuted
And became the sky above;
From the yolk the sun was made,
Light of day to shine upon us;
From the white the moon was formed,
Light of night to gleam above us; The statue Ilmatar and Sotka by
All the colored brighter bits Aarre Aaltonen in Helsinki
Rose to be the stars of heaven
And the darker crumbs changed into
Clouds and cloudlets in the sky.

In many original folk poems, the duck - or sometimes an eagle - laid its eggs on the knee of Väinämöinen.[8]

Polynesian mythology
In Cook Islands mythology, deep within Avaiki (the Underworld), a place described as resembling a vast
hollow coconut shell, there dwelt in the deepest depths, the primordial mother goddess, Varima-te-takere. Her
domain was described as being so narrow, that her knees touched her chin. It was from this place that she
created the first man, Avatea, a god of light, a hybrid being half man and half fish. He was sent to the
Upperworld to shine light in the land of men, and his eyes were believed to be the sun and the moon.[9]
In Samoan and Tahitian mythology, all existence began inside an egg-like shell called Rumia. The first being
to exist within Rumia was Tangaloa. Tangaloa instigated the creation of many aspects of reality, the atea/lagi
heavens, the papa earth, and additional living creatures (the atua / gods) tightly compressed within the shell.
The new creatures eventually worked to release the shell and pushed the heavens and earth apart, resulting in
the universe as we know it.

Dogon mythology
In Dogon mythology (West Africa): "In the beginning, Amma, alone, was in the shape of an egg: the four
collar bones were fused, dividing the egg into air, earth, fire, and water, establishing also the four cardinal
directions. Within this cosmic egg was the material and the structure of the universe, and the 266 signs that
embraced the essence of all things. The first creation of the world by Amma was, however, a failure. The
second creation began when Amma planted a seed within herself, a seed that resulted in the shape of man. But
in the process of its gestation, there was a flaw, meaning that the universe would now have within it the
possibilities for incompleteness. Now the egg became two placentas, each containing a set of twins, male and
female. After sixty years, one of the males, Ogo, broke out of the placenta and attempted to create his own
universe, in opposition to that being created by Amma. But he was unable to say the words that would bring
such a universe into being. He then descended, as Amma transformed into the earth the fragment of placenta
that went with Ogo into the void. Ogo interfered with the creative potential of the earth by having incestuous
relations with it. His counterpart, Nommo, a participant in the revolt, was then killed by Amma, the parts of
his body cast in all directions, bringing a sense of order to the world. When, five days later, Amma brought the
pieces of Nommo's body together, restoring him to life, Nommo became ruler of the universe. He created four
spirits, the ancestors of the Dogon people; Amma sent Nommo and the spirits to earth in an ark, and so the
earth was restored. Along the way, Nommo uttered the words of Amma, and the sacred words that create were
made available to humans. In the meantime, Ogo was transformed by Amma into Yuguru, the Pale Fox, who
would always be alone, always be incomplete, eternally in revolt, ever wandering the earth seeking his female
soul. " [10]

Representations
In the temple of Daiboth (probably Daibod) at Meaco (now Kyoto) in Japan, the egg is
described as floating in an expanse of water, which opened with the assistance of the sacred
steer (bull), upon which the world issued forth to this day.[11][12]
On the island of Cyprus, the egg is represented as a gigantic egg-shaped vase.[13]

Modern mythology
In 1955 poet and writer Robert Graves published the mythography The Greek Myths, a compendium of Greek
mythology normally published in two volumes. Within this work Graves' imaginatively reconstructed
"Pelasgian creation myth" features a supreme creatrix, Eurynome, "The Goddess of All Things",[14] who
arose naked from Chaos to part sea from sky so that she could dance upon the waves. Catching the north wind
at her back and, rubbing it between her hands, she warms the pneuma and spontaneously generates the serpent
Ophion, who mates with her. In the form of a dove upon the waves, she lays the Cosmic Egg and bids Ophion
to incubate it by coiling seven times around until it splits in two and hatches "all things that exist... sun, moon,
planets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees, herbs, and living creatures".[14] [15]

In modern cosmology
The concept was figuratively re-adopted by modern science in the 1930s and explored by theoreticians during
the following two decades. Current cosmological models maintain that 13.8 billion years ago, the entire mass
of the universe was compressed into a gravitational singularity, a so-called ‘cosmic egg’ from which it
'hatched', expanding to its current state following the Big Bang.

The idea of a scientific cosmic egg comes from a need to describe the consequences of Vesto Slipher's
observation and Edwin Hubble's confirmation of an expanding universe; extrapolated backwards in time, it
implies a finite starting-time and a small starting-place, from which the entire cosmos metaphorically hatched.
The expansion contradicts the then-established conception of the universe as eternally old, with no start and no
growth: Einstein's static universe.

In 1913, Vesto Slipher published his observations that light from remote galaxies was
redshifted,[16][17] which was gradually accepted as meaning that all galaxies (except
Andromeda) receding from the Earth.

Alexander Friedmann predicted the same consequence in 1922 from Einstein's equations of
general relativity, once the previous ad-hoc cosmological constant was removed from it (which
had been inserted to conform to the preconceived eternal, static universe).
Georges Lemaître proposed in 1927 that the cosmos originated from what he called the
primeval atom.
Edwin Hubble observationally confirmed Lemaître's findings two years later, in 1929.[18]

In the late 1940s, George Gamow's assistant cosmological researcher Ralph Alpher, proposed
the name ylem for the primordial substance that existed between the Big Crunch of the
previous universe and the Big Bang of our own universe.[19] Ylem is closely related to the
concept of supersymmetry.[20]

See also
Brahma Hiranyagarbha
Brahman Orphic egg
Brahmanda Phanes

References
1. Leeming, David Adams (2010). Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Book 1 (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=9I62BcuPxfYC&q=world+egg+indo+european&pg=PA144). ABC-
CLIO. p. 144. ISBN 9781598841749.
2. Anna‐Britta Hellborn, "The creation egg", Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 1, 1963, pp. 63-105.
3. "Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Mundane Egg (The)" (http://www.bartleby.c
om/81/11799.html). Bartleby.com. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
4. Roshen Dalal (2014). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id=zr
k0AwAAQBAJ). Penguin Books. ISBN 9788184752779. Entry: "Hiranyagarbha"
5. Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC). 1. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 122. ISBN 978-0823931798.
6. "COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY i. In Zoroastrianism/Mazdaism" (http://www.iranicaonline.
org/articles/cosmogony-i). Encyclopædia Iranica.
7. West, M. L. (1983) The Orphic Poems. Oxford:Oxford University Press. p. 205
8. Martti Haavio: Väinämöinen: Suomalaisten runojen keskushahmo. Porvoo: WSOY, 1950
 9. William Wyatt Gill (1876). Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (https://archive.org/stream/m
ythsandsongsfro013889mbp#page/n27/mode/2up). London: Henry S. King & Co.
10. "Amma and the Egg that Contains the Universe" (http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.109
3/oi/authority.20110803095408829). Oxford Reference. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
11. "Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature" (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=ZsgnAAAAMAAJ). Elcyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. VII (Sixth ed.). London. 1823. p. 143.
"DELUGE, ... Some traces of these hieroglyphics are to be found in Japan, which were
certainly carried to Japan by the Indic Ethiopians. From an account of a temple of Daiboth
(probably the same with Daibod) at Meaco in Japan ... We have the mundane egg upon the
waters, and the concomitant symbol of the moon; and the egg at last opened by the assistance
of the sacred steer, upon which the world issues forth to this day."
12. "IV" (https://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/oph/oph04.htm). Ophiolatreia (https://www.sacred-texts.c
om/etc/oph/index.htm). 1889. "According to this and other authorities, the vivification of the
Mundane Egg is allegorically represented in the temple of Daibod, in Japan, by a nest egg,
which is shown floating in an expanse of waters against which a bulb (everywhere an emblem
of generative energy, and prolific heat, the Sun) is striking with his horns."
13. "Ophiolatreia" (http://www.northvegr.org/lore/serpent/00403.php). Northvegr: The Northern Way.
Chapter 4. January 16, 2004. p. 3. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20040116104126/htt
p://www.northvegr.org/lore/serpent/00403.php) from the original on 2004-01-16.
14. Graves, Robert (1990) [1955]. The Greek Myths (https://books.google.com/books?id=xKSxQQA
ACAAJ). 1. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-001026-8.
15. "Books: The Goddess & the Poet" (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866527,0
0.html). TIME. July 18, 1955. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
16. Slipher, V. M. (1913). "The radial velocity of the Andromeda Nebula". Lowell Observatory
Bulletin. 1: 56–57. Bibcode:1913LowOB...2...56S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1913LowO
B...2...56S).
17. "Vesto Slipher – American astronomer" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vesto-Slipher).
Britannica.
18. "Astronomer sleuth solves mystery of Big Cosmos discovery" (https://www.space.com/13616-u
niverse-expansion-discovery-hubble-lemaitre-mystery.html).
19. The Cosmos. Voyage through the Universe. New York, NY: Time-Life Books. 1988. p. 75.
20. Harrison, Edward (2003-05-08). Masks of the Universe: Changing ideas on the nature of the
cosmos (https://books.google.com/books?id=tSowGCP0kMIC&q=ylem+supersymmetrie&pg=P
A224). Cambridge University Press. p. 224 – via Google Books, Germany.

Sources
The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish people. Translated by Friberg, Eino (4th ed.). Otava
Publishing Company, Ltd. 1998. p. 44. ISBN 951-1-10137-4.
Lönnrot, Elias, ed. (1849). Kalevala (https://web.archive.org/web/20060427091855/http://www.fi
nlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=1&l=1). Archived from the original (http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/inde
x.php?m=1&l=1) on 2006-04-27 – via web.archive.org.
Dunand, Françoise; Zivie-Coche, Christiane (2004). Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to
395 CE. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
van Dijk, Jacobus (1995). "Myth and mythmaking in ancient Egypt". In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.).
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. III. New York, NY: Hendrickson. p. 1697.

External links
Creation (http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/creation.html)
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