84 
THE COSMOGONY 
came the atmosphere, from his head the sky, from his feet 
the earth, from his ears the four quarters, so they formed 
the worlds." From him also were produced the different 
castes and animals. 
It is obvious that this second narrative of the creation is 
a corruption of the first. The hymns which contain it are 
of later date, as is proved by the abstract names of the gods 
mentioned in them, such as Hiranyagarbha, Visvakarman, 
and Prajapati. The primitive narrative was either greatly 
obscured in the memory of, or partly rejected by, the pro- 
pounders of this theory. That god produced the chaotic 
fluid before he formed the world was either forgotten or 
rejected, on the ground that it was contrary to experience 
to produce something out of nothing. Hence chaos is repre- 
sented as existing together with, and independently of, the 
creator ; and the creator, as assuming discernible form in a 
" golden embryo " in order to fashion the universe. Accord- 
ing to this theory he is nothing more than the architect or 
the maker of the world from pre-existing matter. This was 
also the Zend idea of creation, and hence the phrase " created 
by Mazda, " is Mazda-Dhata, established or arranged by 
Mazda. " The firmament, " the infinite time, and the air 
which work on high are called " self-created." 
The idea that the creator rose from a " golden embryo,^' 
or " golden egg," probably orginated in a dim recollection of 
the primitive account that the " Spirit of Grod moved on the 
face of the waters " (Genesis i. 2). For the Hebrew verb, 
racaph, translated " moved," means to " fiutter," to " hover," 
and to "brood "as of a bird over its nest. "As an eagle 
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, " &c. (Deut. 
xxxii. 11). The word translated "fluttereth" here is the 
same as that translated " moved " in Grenesis i. 2. If there- 
fore the primitive account was, that god in fashioning the 
world "fluttered" or "brooded" over chaos like a bird over 
its nest, what was more natural than that in the com-se of 
