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________________ JAIN VIEW OF CREATION The desire to know the nature and origin of things is inborn. Man reflects on the phenomena around him. The explanations of the phenomena of Nature which suggest themselves to him constitute the early stage of mythology, generally called primitive mythology When we come to the Rgveda, however, we find that the hymns of creation represent advanced degree of thought. These hymns are not the products of primitive man but of some highly gifted poets of antiquity who are regarded as "seers". We come across a few majestic hymns of creation in the Rgveda. In one hymn the Vedic seer declares "In the primal age of the gods Being (Sat) was born of Non-Being (Asat)." In the famous Purusasukta the Vedic poet says that the world was formed from the different members of the body of the Virat-purusa?. In another splendid hymn noteworthy for depth of speculation, the Vedic poet says : "Then there was neither Sat (Aught, Being) nor Asat (Nought, Non-Being) there was before creation only darkness clouded over darknesswho truly knows---from whence this vast creation arose ?--Its lord in heaven alone knows it or perhaps he too knows not."3 The Brahmanas contain many legends about Prajapati creating the world. The Upanisads too contain creation-myths; but they are used to illustrate their fundamental philosophical doctrine of the all-pervading Brahman. Incidentally, we may note here that the Svetasvatara Upanisad when dealing with the problem of causation, lists the so-called first causes of the world : Kala (Time), Svabhava (Nature), Niyati (Destiny), Yadrccha (Accident, Chance, Mechanical or fortuitous combination of Elements), Bhutani (Elements) and (Pasama-?) Purusa (the Supreme-) Person. The Epics and the Puranas treat of the creation-myths at great length as cosmogony and secondary creations (the successive destructions and renovations of the world) form two of their five principal topics.5 This brief description of the myths of creation, as found in the Rgveda Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org
| SR No. | 001868 |
| Book Title | Studies in Jain Literature |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | V M Kulkarni |
| Publisher | Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre |
| Publication Year | 2001 |
| Total Pages | 114 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Literature, & Story |
| File Size | 14 MB |