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
Zoroastrian mythology Jacob Bryant's Orphic Egg (1774)

Mandaeism
Greek/Orphic 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 (ब्रह्माण्ड) which is derived from two words – 'Brahma' (ब्रह्मा) the 'creator god' in Hinduism and
'anda' (अण्ड) 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 (हिरण्यगर्भ) 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
Vivasvan, Rahu, Bhūmi,
According to Zoroastrian cosmology, the period of (material) creation, also to Naraka, Ananta,
last 3,000 years, began after the treaty, when Ohrmazd recited the Ahunwar Garbhodaksayi Vishnu
(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) form, by celebrating a “spiritual yasna”. He placed each
creation under the protection of one of the seven Amahraspands (Av. Aməša
Spənta). First he created the sky (protected by Šahrewar, Av. Xšaθra Vairiia),
which enclosed the world like the shell of an egg.[6] 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 This is one of many
fourth, fifth, and sixth creations, respectively the single plant or tree (protected material universes,
by Amurdād; Av. Amərətāt), the uniquely created bull (protected by Brahmandas, which
Wahman, Av. Vohu Manah), and the first man, Gayōmard (Av. Gaiiō.marətan, expand from Mahavishnu
protected by Ohrmazd himself). The seventh creation, fire (protected by when He breathes.
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 in the middle of the sky.[7]

Mandaeism
According to Book 3 of the Right Ginza, one of the Mandaean scriptures, the universe originated from a
"fruit (pira) within a fruit."[8]

Greek/Orphic mythology
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.[9] 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;
All the colored brighter bits
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.[10]

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.[11]

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 dogon, 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. " [12]

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.[13][14]

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",[15] 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".[15]
[16]

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,[17][18] 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.[19]

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.[20] Ylem is closely related to
the concept of supersymmetry.[21]

See also
Brahma
Brahman
Brahmanda
Hiranyagarbha
Orphic egg
Phanes

References
 1. Leeming, David Adams (2010). Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Book 1 (http
s://books.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.bartleb
y.com/81/11799.html). Bartleby.com. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
4. Roshen Dalal (2014). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id
=zrk0AwAAQBAJ). Penguin Books. ISBN 9788184752779. Entry: "Hiranyagarbha"
5. Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC). Vol. 1. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 122. ISBN 978-
0823931798.
6. Dînâ-î Maînôg-î Khirad 44:8-9
7. "COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY i. In Zoroastrianism/Mazdaism" (http://www.iranicaonlin
e.org/articles/cosmogony-i). Encyclopædia Iranica.
8. Aldihisi, Sabah (2008). The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba (ht
tps://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444088/) (PhD). University College London.
9. West, M. L. (1983) The Orphic Poems. Oxford:Oxford University Press. p. 205
10. Martti Haavio: Väinämöinen: Suomalaisten runojen keskushahmo. Porvoo: WSOY, 1950
11. William Wyatt Gill (1876). Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (https://archive.org/strea
m/mythsandsongsfro013889mbp#page/n27/mode/2up). London: Henry S. King & Co.
12. "Amma and the Egg that Contains the Universe" (http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1
093/oi/authority.20110803095408829). Oxford Reference. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
13. "Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature" (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=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."
14. "IV" (https://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/oph/oph04.htm). Ophiolatreia (https://www.sacred-text
s.com/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."
15. Graves, Robert (1990) [1955]. The Greek Myths (https://books.google.com/books?id=xKSxQ
QAACAAJ). Vol. 1. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-001026-8.
16. "Books: The Goddess & the Poet" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080606031045/http://ww
w.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866527,00.html). TIME. July 18, 1955. Archived
from the original (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866527,00.html) on
June 6, 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
17. 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/1913Lo
wOB...2...56S).
18. "Vesto Slipher – American astronomer" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vesto-Sliphe
r). Britannica.
19. "Astronomer sleuth solves mystery of Big Cosmos discovery" (https://www.space.com/13616
-universe-expansion-discovery-hubble-lemaitre-mystery.html).
20. The Cosmos. Voyage through the Universe. New York, NY: Time-Life Books. 1988. p. 75.
21. 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
=PA224). 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://ww
w.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=1&l=1). Archived from the original (http://www.finlit.fi/kaleval
a/index.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. Vol. III. New York, NY: Hendrickson. p. 1697.

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

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_egg&oldid=1073028339"

This page was last edited on 20 February 2022, at 17:27 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

additional terms may apply. By
using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.