Stories 10
Brahma born from Shiva's right side
Shiva alone exists before the world.
Brahma is born in the golden egg
A golden egg forms in the waters and glows like the sun.
Nanga Baigin nails down the earth
The new earth wobbles like mud until Bhagavan sends for Nanga Baiga, whose wife drives nails into its four corners.
Saraswati: daughter, consort, or both
Brahma's body splits into a male and a female half.
Singbonga and the clay-divers
The Munda sun god sends a tortoise, a crab and an earthworm to fetch clay from under the waters; the smallest succeeds and the earth is made.
Thakur Jiu and the two birds
The Santal creator makes two water-birds over the primal sea; from their eggs come the first man and woman, and no Puranic god appears.
The fish that warned the Bhils
A fish warns a brother and sister of a flood; afterwards Bhagwan, or in one telling Rama, sends them to repeople the world.
The golden womb and Prajapati
Before the gods there are only the primordial waters.
The lotus from Vishnu's navel
During the dissolution Vishnu lies on the serpent Ananta in the cosmic waters.
The mind-born sons, Narada and Daksha
Brahma wishes for children and brings them out of his own mind.