Origin of the Cosmic Egg
Austroasiatic Origin of the Hindu Cosmic Egg
In Hinduism, one of the beliefs is that the universe is in the shape of an egg which is why the universe is called Brahmanda (expansive egg). The Cosmic Egg motif is found in certain accounts of the creation stories throughout the Hindu literature. In this article, I will show that this motif originated from the Austroasiatic people of India, and not the Indo Europeans. Admitedly, I am not the first to make the conenction between the Cosmic Egg motif of Hinduism to the motifs found in Eastrn Asia. A scholar named Ülo Valk, made a breif mention in his paper on the Balto-Finnic cosmology. I am, however, probably the first to explore this connection in depth and also involve the Central Indian tribes.
Puranic Tale
Consider the Matsya Purana, on of the oldest Puranas. In the Matsya Purana 2.25-30, we are given an account of the creation of the universe. Here Lord Swayambhu (Narayana) desiring to create the world, created first the waters and then planted the seed of consciousness (caitanya) into it. Upon contact came out a vast golden egg, which after a thousand years became more luminous than the sun. Swayambhu entered into that egg and began to create the sun, and other stuff.
The Vedic Texts
These Puranic versions of th Golden Egg do go back to the Vedic period.
Consider the Shatapatha Brahmana (11.6.1):
“Verily, in the beginning this (universe) was water, nothing but a sea of water. The waters desired, 'How can we be reproduced?' They toiled and performed fervid devotions (or, and became heated), when they were became heated a golden egg was produced. The year indeed, was not then in existence: this golden egg floated about for as long as the space of a year. In a year's time a man, this Prajapati, was produced therefrom.... He broke open this golden egg. There was then, indeed, no resting place: only this golden egg, bearing him, floated about for as long as the space of a year. At the end of a year he tried to speak. He said' 'bhuh’ this (word) became this earth;- ‘bhuvah': this became this air;- ‘svah' this became yonder sky.”
However, it seems like this is the oldest reference to a golden egg. No older Vedic texts has this. Rather, we find the mention of a "golden embryo" or hiranyagarbha.
Consider the Rig Veda (10.82.5-6), which doesn't have the golden part:
“paro divā para enā pṛthivyā paro devebhirasurairyadasti | kaṃ svid gharbhaṃ prathamaṃ dadhra āpo yatra devāḥsamapaśyanta viśve ||“That which is there beyond with the sky, beyond with the earth, beyond with the gods and asuras, who perhaps is that First Embryo that the waters bore where all the gods were seeing together. ""tamid gharbhaṃ prathamaṃ dadhra āpo yatra devāḥsamaghachanta viśve | ajasya nābhāvadhyekamarpitaṃyasmin viśvāni bhuvanāni tasthuḥ ||”"That First Embryo which the water borne where all the gods are coming together. At on the Unborn’s navel was that One offered, in which all of the worlds stood. ”
It would seem that the embryo motif gave way to the egg motif, but is isn't as straightforward. The word "embryo" is a having the connotation of a "fetus", a term that one doesn't associate with egg embryos. One scholar tried to link the embryo with the egg via the term Martanda (dead egg), but Dr. Valk dismissed this as superflous [1]. So, we still have to explain the golden egg motif in the Shatapatha Brahmana.
Is it Indo European?
In order to know if the golden egg motif is somehow still Indo European despite no mention of it in the earliest Vedic texts, we will have to look towards other cultures.
The oldest Greek cosmogony text, Hesiod’s Theogony doesn’t mention a cosmic egg [1]. The cosmic egg motif, from which a Progenitor hatches, in Ancient Greece was only found in Orphic traditions. However Orphism wasn't a reflection of the Greek tradition. It is likely that the Orphic people derived their philosophy from an outside source [1]. The most likely course would be the Indians via the Persian Empire, an idea which has been floated around and even entertained by some scholars [2]!
The Zoroastrians don’t have a cosmic egg beyond mere expressions (heaven and earth compared to two shells of an egg) which aren’t in the Gathas, the oldest Iranian texts. And it must be noted that in the earliest account of the golden egg motif in the Vedic texts, the egg was not a comparrison of the world, but rather the object that gave birth to Prajapati, the Vedic progenitor deity.
The only other tradition that has a cosmic egg motif just like that found in the Shathapatha Brahmana is Ancient Egypt, where Ra hatches from an Ibis egg. However, it is very unlikely that the Egyptian mortif has anything to do with the Vedic motif, given that ancient Egyptian religion had little influence on the Indian religion.
We however, do find origianal cosmic egg motifs in the Baltic and Uralic traditions. This is soemthing scholar Ülo Valk explored.
Take a look at an Estonian song he cited [1]:
Pääsukeine, päevalinduTei ta pesa söödu pääleMunne kolmi muna sisseÜits sai aoss alla ilmaTeine päevas pääle ilma:Kolmas sai kuusse taevasse:Swallow, the sun-birdBuilt a nest in the field,Laid three eggs in it.One became dawn to the nether world.The second became sun to the upper worldThe third became moon into the sky.
Such songs are found amongst the "Finns of Ingria, the Votes, and the Karelians" [1]. Vladmir Torpov founded Russian fairytale version where various metals were sued to make eggs that became kingdoms, but is noted to have said that no explciit Slavic motif is found[1]. Dr. Valk then tries to see if the Balto-Finnic myth came from a foreign source, maybe from East Asia via the Silk Road, but wonders how such a central myth can be a borrowed from tangiential contact. He ruled out a Proto-Uralic origin as the motif couldn;t be found in the Ob-Ugrian and Samoyed groups [1].
He then draws attention to rock art found at Lake Äänisjärv in Karelia, where one shows a painting of a bird laying an egg that gives brith to the sun and constellations [1].
For context, here is that image below [3]:
Dr. Valk concludes that the motif was of local origin, neither Indo European nor Uralic. What happened was that cultures who lived in that area at some time or another inetegrated that local myth [1].
There are several reasons for this European cosmic egg motif to have no relation with the Vedic one. First is that the region in which these cave paintings are found is far North of the Yamnaya Culture, the supposed PIE homeland. Neither is in the range of the Corded Ware Culture either. So the Indo Europeans had little chance to borrow it. And as Dr. valk notes, the eggs in the Balto-Finnic stories hatch into cosmological bodies like the sun and the moon, which is niot what occurs in the Vedic version [1]. In the Vedic version, the cosmic egg hatches into a progenitor figure.
A Turn to the East
The answer to the origin of the cosmic egg motif found in the Shatapatha Brahmana and later Hindu texts is not to the west, but to the east
Santhls
One missionary noted this story amongst the Santhals. In the beginning there was water all over. The spirit of god, Takkur Jiu, wanted to create. He created animals but wasn’t satisfied. So he made man and women and breathed life into them. But then Sin Sadom, a demon horse, came from heaven and ate the man and woman up.Takkur Jiu decided not to create man but went on to create a goose and a gander.They could only float in the water and if they wanted to rest they could only do so on the palm of Takkur Jiu.Sin Sadom, came to eat up the geese, but Takkur Jiu struck him down and turned him into sea froth. Now the issue was where shall the two geese rest. Thakkur Jiu took some thatching grass to make a nest, in which the gander laid a clutch of eggs. From those eggs, hatched a boy and girl, who would give birth to mankind [4].
So here you can see how the Santhals believe that that their ancestors hatched from an egg.
Muong
The Muong people are the austroasiatic people of Vietnam. They too have a egg motif like the Santhals. It is as follows:
Long ago there were no moths, years, or seasons. No day nor night. No sun, no moon, nor stars. The Earth and Sky were one mass. There was a huge drought that made the sky-earth go turmoil. The wind gusts filled the sky with air thus raising it up. The Rain softened the ground but flowed with unusual force. The water had risen and the Earth, Sky, and Heaven were separated. The Cay Si (a fig tree) was there and from its stump two Progenitor birds were created. Cim Ay and Chai Ua. They had eggs. All but the last one (or last three, depending on the version) hatched into the various animals we see today. But from the last one (or last 3) came 2 brothers and a sister. The youngest brother became the first Muong ruler. He had two failed marriages with the heaven’s daughter and the underwater-realm’s daughter. The youngest ended up marrying his sister; they had children. The Heaven punished the two for incest by making their children born with disabilities. To remedy it, an old man advised them two go far in opposite directions and come back so they don’t know each other, then Heaven can allow their marriage [5].
Here you can see that mankind came from eggs.
Khmu
The Khmu are the austroasiatic people Laos. Their version of the cosmic egg is a bit different. Long ago there were an orphaned brother and an orphaned sister who went to the forest to look for food. They found a bamboo rat and began chasing it. The rat begged for its life and offered advice on how the siblings could save themselves from the upcoming world flood. The advice was to hollow out a log and gather enough food for seven days and seven nights. They must hid in the log and seal the oppenins with beeswax, essentially the log is a giant drum now. After 7 days and nights they must paok the drum’s waxy end with porcupine needle to see for water leak. If not they can emerge. They do the task, and survive the flood. The log was settled on a tree, and when the siblings emerged they went in all directions to find any people left. Sadly no one was to be seen, but a bird told the siblings to become husband and wife and beget children. The sister-wife becomes pregnant, and after 7 years and 7 months, the wife gives birth to a gourd.The Brother-Husband wanted to smash the gourd but his sister-wife instead placed the gourd on the smoking rack above the cooking fire. After they come from the field one day, the couple heard laughter in the house. When they investigated the house fell silent. The Man put his ear on the gourd and heard noises.The man took the gourd and cut it with a knife, but his wife intervened and said to use a burnt stick to poke a hole. Out from the gourd cam epeople of various races such as Kmhu, Lao, Thai, Lue. [6]
In this, the role of the egg is replaced with the gourd. Dr. Van, who recorded the story, notes this parallel. According to him the gourd motif was original, which then evolved into the egg motif [6]. I have a different explanation, but what we bith agree on is that both eggs and gourds are related. There are Hindu stories of people being born from gourds as well, and this deserves another article.
Palung
The Palung are an Austroastiatic people in northern Burma. According to them, an Naga princess named Iranti married the Sun prince and laid 3 eggs. The Sun prince then decided that he no longer cared for the princess and left her, entrusting a crow to deliver her a break up letter, which also mentioned that he will give her a magic gem. The Sun prince gives the bag to the crow, whi then departs. It turns out that the Sun prince had no magic gem and actually placed a worthless pebble in the bag. In a fit of anger the Naga princess three away her eggs far. Two landed in and broke, revealing jade and rubies and other jewels. The third egg landed in a river to be picked up and fostered by an old couple. The egg hatched into a boy named Kokya, who would later on have a daughter. The Palung rulers are said to have descended from that boy [10].
Non Austroasiatics
Similar stories are found from cultures that are not austroasiatic bt were in contact with them. This includes the Ahoms [7] and the Thais [8]. These beling to the Kra-Dai Langauge family. We also find the egg motif among the Mandaya people of the Phillipines [9]. A version is found amingst the Dhammai people, who are actually Tibeto-Burman [10].
Why Austroasiatic?
The reason i believe the cosmic egg is an Austroasiatic motif is because it is found amongst the austroasiatics, and only a scattered hand full of non-austroasiatic groups have them, and this is likely due to contact with teh austroasiatic. Among the language famolyies of East and Southeast Asia, it was the Austroasiatic people who were in contact with the Vedic people. Clearely it is from them. Even if it is from say the Kra-Dai people, it would have to be spread by the austroasiatics only, who would have borrowed it ftom them, because, again, they were the ones to be in contact with the Vedic people
Below is a map I made that shows in circles the rough homelands of the Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, and Polynesian langauge family. Even if the Kra-Dai are the only other canadates to be originator of the cosmic egg motif, what is certain is that the cosmic egg motif originated in the Southern China area.
If I were to ascribe a date for when the Austroasiatics came to India, going by the Austroasiatic martime hypthesis, that would be from 3500 to 4000 years ago [11]. However, this hypthesis is not the consensus.
In any case, once the Austroasiatics were extablsihed in India, they made contact with the Vedic people and exchanged beliefs. One of that of course is the cosmic egg motif. Let us take some time to compare the Shatapatha Brahmana version and the tribal versions:
In the austroasiatic versions, the progenitors of mankind hatched from eggs. Prajapati is the progenitor in the Vedic texts. Obviously, the Vedic people would identify the tribal progenitor figures with their progenitor figure, the difference being that in the triabl versios, there were two progenitors, a boy and girl pair that commit incest. Curiously, Prajapati is said to have a female emination named Vac, though this not itself conclusive.
Prajapati would later be split into Brahma, the creator of the Universe and Daksha Prajapati. Prajapati has also influenced aspects of Vishnu, after all it was Swayambhu (Narayana) who crated the golden egg in the Matsya Purana.
In any case, what happened after was the austroasiatic egg motif merged was borrowed into the Vedic culture wa sthat it got got merged with golden embryo motif to give rise to the Golden Egg motif found in the Shatapatha Brahmana. That then evolved into the Brahmanda model of the universe that Hindus know today.
Conclusion
A motif originating in Southern China bifurcated and spread all around South East Asia and even into India where the Vedic people borrowed it. That lead to the Brahmanda model of Hindu cosmology that we have today.
Citations:
1) https://journal.oraltradition.org/wp-content/uploads/files/articles/15i/8_valk.pdf
2) https://www.jstor.org/stable/1397302?seq=18
3)https://www.academia.edu/10177091/Strange_swans_and_odd_ducks_interpreting_the_ambiguous_waterfowl_imagery_of_Lake_Onega
4) https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/38-1_072.pdf
5)https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol75/grigoreva.pdf
6)https://www.jstor.org/stable/541423?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A3ef8d2f7d76e3d697d25e4202b909df6&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents
8)https://www.everyculture.com/wc/Tajikistan-to-Zimbabwe/Thai.html
9) https://www.aswangproject.com/the-egg-motif-in-philippine-creation-myths/
10) https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294203?read-now=1&seq=9#page_scan_tab_contents
11)https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316660149_Rice_and_the_Austroasiatic_and_Hmong-Mien_homelands
12) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228160282.pdf
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