Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/467

 COSMOGONY

409

COSMOGONY

).sh, tlio angel of obedience, will smite Aeshun, the ackiiic demon. Mithra. the angel of siniliglit, and i-an Akarana, Time-without-eiid, and tin' aiigi'l nf itice and providenee, will .smite the crcatidn of .\lni- in,andAhnra Mazd.awill become again undistnrbcd in the beginning. Cosmology perhaps, rather than imogony, i.s contained in chapter xliv: "Sky, and •th, and water, and what is therein are like the egg a bird. By .\hnra Mazda, the creator, the sky Ls ar- iged above the earth like an egg and the semblance the earth in the midst of the sky is just like the yolk ,
 * hin the egg; the water within the earth and sky i.s

■h a.s the white of the egg." This, of course, must t be understood as a sort of early evolution theory; merely imlieates the shape of the iiniverse as con- ved by t-hi> Persians.

Iranian dualism then was never quite consistent, t even in the Avesta. In the Mainochired it makes leed an attempt at monism in personifying Zrvan, t of which creation comes, and by which creation is ■ssed, but the inconsistencies of the system finally )ught forth a number of unorthodox sects. Each of 'se sects solved the problem of unity versus plural- in its own way. Some, as the Gayomarthiya, those licated in Firdosi's book of kings, and the author of ghty creator of heaven and earth, much in the same ise as Christians do. Ahriman, at first a primeval ing coeval with Ormuzd, is transformed into the rsee equivalent for Satan. Others reached a sort of )nism by making either Thwasha (Space) or Zrvan ime) the origin of all things, even of Ormuzd and iriman. That Thwasha was once the head of the mian pantheon is perhaps indicated by so early a tness as Herodotus (I, cxx.xi) and much later by inuusciiis. Zrvan, as thesource of all things amongst 3 Persians, is attested by many of the Fathers heod. Mops., Moses of Chorene), by Eznik and Ell- is. At this period the origin of all things was con- ved in varioiis fantastical ways. According to some ivajets. Cod. XII), Time created Water and Fire and icn these came together Ormuzd arose. According others. Time for 1000 years yearned to bring forth a 1 and offered sacrifice for that purpose, but then ubted; Ormuzd was conceived as fruit of the sacri- s, Ahriman as fruit of the doubt — and similar fan- s which strongly suggest Indian influence. It is re- irkalile, however, that Ormuzd remains throughout 3 foremost and immediate creator of the cosmos or irld as it now is, and as far as it is good. It is remark- le also that Iranian cosmogonies are not devoid of a ble ethical strain, however much they may have mged during the course of ages. Indian. — These cosmogonies are so manifold and so wildering in their fantastic variety that only the lest and most purely Indian can be referred to, and J characteristic of Iranian thought, so is idealistic ntheism of the thought of India. In Indian co.s- jgonies more than elsewhere we have to distinguish tween [jhilosophic speculation and popular religion, lich each in its way influenced their conception of p origin of the world. The oldest cosmogonies must turally be sought in the Rig- Veda. The age of these Ered books is largely a matter of controversy, but eir origin can be roughly assigned to a date earlier an 1000 B. c. Among the 1028 hymns of the Rig- inslation was given by Max MiiUer forty years ago. lis translation, though metrical, is remarkably lit- il and contains the best exposition of ancient Indian ought on this subject. It runs as follows: —
 * Vajarkart, practically believed in an eternal al-
 * main outlines indicated. As ethical dualism is
 * da none is so famous as cxxix of Book X, of which a

>r Aught nor Naught existed; yon bright sky as not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above, hat covered all? what sheltered? what concealed? as it the water's fathomless aby.ss?

There was not death — yet there was nauglit immortal. There was no confine betwLxt day and night; Tlie ( hily One breathed breathless by it.self, < )th('r than it there nothing since has been. Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled In gloom profound — an ocean without light— The derm that .still lay covered in the husk Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat. Then first came Love upon it, the new Spring Of mind — yea, poets in their hearts discerned, Pondering, this bond between created things And uncreated. Comes this spark from the earth Piercing and all pervading, or from heaven? Then seetls were sown and mighty powers arose — Nature below and Power and Will above — Who knows the secret? Who proclaimed it here? Whence, whence this manifold creation sjjrang? The gods themselves came later into being — Who knows from whence this great creation sjjrang? He from whom all this great creation came, Whether his will created or was mute. The Most-High Seer that is in highest heaven. He knows it — or perchance even He knows not.

If, however, we divest this and similar Intlian effu- sions (Rig-V., X, cxc, Ixxii) of their poetical garb and set aside the agnostic touch in the last line, their co.s- mogony is philosophically conceived as follows: The first principle of all Being is Tad (i. e. the absolutely indefinite That), this unites in itself all spiritual and material elements of the world. Tad is an idea ob- tained only by absolute abstraction, for it possesses only one quality, viz. that of vitality. From Tad the universe proceeds by evolution. This evolution is in- troduced by Tapas, i. e. the intensity of self-contem- plation or introspection — self-love, one would almost translate. This is the spiritual progress by which Tad for the first time leaves his inaction. Then there arises within Tad, kama, or the desire, the will, the purpose to create. Tad has therefore evolved into a conscious act of the will, that is Manas has begun, thereby Tad has ceased to be unconscious and has completely left his state of inactivity. There further arises, in consequence of Tapas, Ritam, i. e. the highest law or causality. The production of the world through the intelligent will of a personal creator is, at least with regard to the first stages of evolution, unknown to these hymns. Yet a universe without any regular connexion of phenomena seemed unthinkable, hence this principle of causality was postulated previous to all cosmic evolution, and in this sense Ritam was the first thing to arise out of Tad previous to the universe. But all Ritam must have its Satr/am, or coimterpart in actuality. In theistic phraseology this would mean that all creation must have its archetype in the Divine Mind, and that to create is nothing but the realization of this archet jT^e as distinct from God. According to Indian thought the force of their ground principle, will, or kama, was not blind activity, but bound by Ritam, or Supreme Law. The world therefore was not the result of chance, and thus their philo.sophers could estaljlish connexion between their speculations and popular religion. Now there arose out of Tad the elements of the material world: the moist primeval matter, the space to surround it, and darkness to fill the sjjace. Time was not reckoned among the ele- ments, as in some Iranian cosmogonies; it was but the measure of changing phenomena. Material evoh^ tions having so far proceeded, the first cosmic cycle of gods makes its appearance: Aditi and his Aditya.s. From Aditi, or Infinity, united to Dak.sha, or .Spirit Force, the Adityas take their origin. The liighest among them is Varuna (oupai-is?), the world-creator in popular religion. These work together to bring about the present cosmos. The first things produced by separating the primeval waters is liglit, then follow darkness, day and night; and thus time begins. By