The desire to imagine creation - Avani Tanya

India has been a country of ageless and countless myths that describe how man and earth were created. All these stories, unanimously worship nature and celebrate 'God' or a similar super power as the creator of life. Animals were believed to exist before man. Over centuries, these myths disappeared somewhere, most of them getting integrated into larger religions such as "Hinduism" and "Buddhism". This probably explains why these religions have multiple stories explaining creation. 

As a child i grew up listening to various versions of stories describing creation, including scientific theories of evolution and the Big bang theory. I often found it hard to understand why these myths were necessary..why did we have a strong desire to imagine creation? Tthrough these myths 'we seek an experience of being alive', we try to refer to those things that are beyond our understanding. The myth is a manifestation of the images within us. They are a magnification of our dreams, and experiences that are intrinsic to all mankind. This is probably also why almost all ancient creation myths around the world have common themes and imagery. They give us a cultural sense of belonging, relationships and kinship. They give justifications to very primal human emotions like greed, jealousy, love and hatred, and almost rid us of the guilt of doing sinful acts.

 I still dont know what these mean to me in the modern day and age. My mind wants to have greater faith in the scientific explanations, yet these stories move me in many ways. They are an artistic expression that speaks to each of us in personal ways. 

Here is a myth of the 'Gond' tribe from central india that i have always been fond of-

" One Gond myth, essentially a separation of heaven and earth myth tells us about how earth and sky fell in love and wanted to be married and the Creator agreed to celebrate their wedding. All creatures were invited tot he wedding and they all agreed to come except the Jackal. He warned the Creator that if Earth and Sky married, there would be no room left between their coupling for any creation to take place. The Creator understood this and decided to marry the Earth with the Sun instead." 

                                      
These are pictures of art and artifacts that depict native indian creation myths that I took on my visit to the "Museum of man" in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

The Norse Cosmogony - Sandeep Mathew

The Norse people are from southern and central Scandinavia, later known as the Vikings. Their creation story is as follows.

Ginnungagap is the vast chasm of chaotic, potentially creative energy that always was. To its north lies Niflheim, a world of the most intense cold, and to its south, Muspelheim, a world of equally intense heat. A poisonous river, Elivâgar flowed from Niflheim to Ginnungagap which hardened into ice. When the heat of Muspelheim met with the icy Elivâgar a might battle took place with each side trying to destroy the other. Sparks from Muspelheim fell upon the icy river and warmed it, forming drops of water. From these drops grew the evil, icy hearted frost giant Ymir, ancestor of all future frost giants, and Audhumbla, a cow.

The cow survived by licking salt off the icy river and nourished Ymir with rivers of milk. Ymir, nourished with milk, went to sleep wherein he fell into a sweat. He sweated a male and female pair of giants who were responsible for the ensuing giant population from under his left arm. As the cow licked away the ice, there slowly emerged the form of a tall, strong, handsome man named Búri. Búri, unlike Ymir was a good man with a warm heart.   Búri singlehandedly produced a son Borr who married Bestla the daughter of one of the Frost Giants.

Borr and Bestla went on to have three sons, Odin, Villi and finally Vé. The three brothers were the first the Gods and began the elite Aesir race of which Odin was the All-Father. The brothers deciding that no evil should exist in the world set out to slay Ymir. After a hard battle, Ymir was killed – his blood gushed through the world and drowned all other frost giants except one giant and his wife, the only survivors of their race. Odin and his brother got to work and used every part of Ymir to fashion the earth. His eyebrows formed the land (called Midgard); his blood filled the ocean and rivers; his strong bones formed the mountains; his teeth and broken bones became pebbles and stones; his hair sprouted plants and trees; his brain formed the heavy clouds; and his enormous skull formed the arching heavens.

The Gods continued the production, bringing sparks from Muspelheim for the Sun, the Moon and the stars. The Sun and Moon travelled around the earth on chariots riden by drivers who were trained to keep time forever. The Gods also made Night a dark and gloomy giantess and Day a bright and beautiful man of the Aesir race. Once satisfied with their job the brothers created a man and woman in Midgard out of an Ash and Elm tree giving them the gifts of wisdom, speech, hearing and sight. The coupled lived happily in Midgard as father and mother of the entire human race.

The story is a rollercoaster of vivid imagination, or so it seems at this point in time. The apparent violation of all things logical makes it quite hard for one to truly believe this tale. Even so, the essential basis of the social conflict and harmony hold true till this day. The giants and Gods are clearly superhuman beings who also feel anger, betrayal, love and the rest of the emotional spectrum. One can also wonder when the myth started, and whether it has been corrupted over the years as the concepts of chariots and anatomy probably took a while to develop. Interestingly, unlike other major creation myths both man and woman were created simultaneously, and hence were considered equal.  

African culture myth - Tanvee N

I’m a young woman in an African tribe. Our land is rich with trees and populated by many animals. The forests are thick and in some places you cannot see the sky. The forests are to be respected and feared, they will provide you food, but sometimes they could kill you.
We were made in the image of the three who are one –Nzame, Mebere and Nkwa. Even Nzame had to create the world two times, because even Gods make mistakes and the immortal Fam was one of them. He was unkind to the forests and the animals and did not respect them this angered Nzame who destroyed Fam’s earth. So we must remember to take only what we need from the forest.
As a woman I am expected to care for the young, cook and keep house while the men hunt and gather food. I must listen to everything my husband says, even if I do not like it, because men always know what to do. After all it was the first man Sekume who fashioned the first woman Mbongwe, and that was a wise thing – otherwise who would have cooked for him and kept his bed?
We have a sacred tree. It is beautiful and all the tribe worship and respect it. It is a huge and old tree – we believe it is the first tree. Every living thing – animals, forest, fish are children of this tree. Except man, Nzame made the first man in his own image. Unlike Fam, first man Sekume is governed by nissim (soul) and gnoul (body), and gnoul is doomed to die so does man know death but Nissim lives forever.

I am a young woman in the 21st century from India and this ancient African creation myth is not relevant to me. This myth suggests that even Gods make mistakes; this humanizes ‘Nzame’. The myth however easily explains many truths about the earth that Africans must have encountered. It would have explained to them where the layer of coal and oil under the top layer of soil came from, for instance. At the same time, this story provides clear cultural statuses. Firstly, human beings are greater than all animals as the creator himself created them. Secondly, women are subservient to men as it was the first man who made the first woman. Infact this gives men an almost god-like status. This was definitely a patriarchal culture.
I was also a culture that respected life, their own as well as those of the trees and animals around it. Part of their myth talks abut how an angered Nzame obliterated the world of Fam when he grew arrogant and performed a ‘do over’. Another part of the myth talks of the tree that was the beginning of all other life on earth, so they probably worshipped wood like many pagan cultures. As a culture they may have feared the rolling thunder and lightening seeing it as representative of Nzame’s anger.

End.

The Egyptian Creation Myth: Sanjam Singh

After reading about various creation myths, it is apparent that most creation myths were the result of personification of certain elements. These elements or objects affected people on a daily basis and hence they sought to explain their existence. The best way to do this was to anthropomise these objects. Once anthropomised these elements were easier to comprehend and understand. Elaborate stories were thought up by civilisations to explain their environment through these elements. To contemporary societies, these myths were as true as what we now believe to be the best explanations for the creation of the universe.

For the Egyptians the Nile river was a creative and destructive force. The waters of the Nile flooded every year causing loss and destruction and then receded leaving behind rich fertile lands. Thus at the beginning, according to Egyptian mythology, there was only water and chaos. From this chaos arose the Sun or its anthropomised representation Ra or Atum. The sun was important due to its life giving qualities. It provided light and took away the darkness of the night. And thus the duality of day and night or good and evil was established.

Atum is said to have be born using his thoughts and will. Atum was also regarded as a bisexual god. Hence the Egyptian were able to represent him as the one and only creative force and also explain how he came into existence. Atum then created the various other gods which are a part of Egyptian mythology, who help in the creation of the world.

Given the times in which these civilisations existed, the creation myths seemed to be valid explanations for inexplicable natural phenomena. The need for security and balance in life led humans to explain these phenomena in the best way they could.

Viewed in the light of today’s knowledge about the universe and its beginning, these myths are mere stories written in a time when not much was known. To continue to cling on to these myths as valid explanations as to how the universe began would, in my opinion, be ignorant. Although, the desire for humans to be able explain one’s surroundings is interesting.

The Egyptian put together the best explanation they could come up with given how much was know about the world around them. The human urge to better explain and understand things around us should be celebrated and encouraged even if it leads to an ever-change and ever-evolving view of our world and universe.