Hiranyagarbha
HIRANYAGARBHA.
[Source:
Dowson's Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology] 'Golden
egg' or 'golden womb.' In the Rigveda Hiranyagarbha "is
said to have arisen in the beginning, the one lord of all beings, who upholds
heaven and earth, who gives life and breath, whose command even the gods obey,
who is the god over all gods, and the one animating principle of their being." According
to Manu, Hiranyagarbha was Brahma, the first male, formed by the indiscernible
eternal First Cause in a golden egg resplendent as the sun. "Having continued
a year in the egg, Brahma divided it into two parts by his mere thought, and
with these two shells he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle
he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters."
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Modern
Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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Page last updated:
October 16, 2007 12:22 PM
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