Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/226

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178
RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES OF THE UPANISHADS

tains, the thin membrane (of the yolk) the mist with the clouds, the small veins the rivers, the fluid the sea.

"And what was born from it was Aditya, the Sun. When he was born shouts of joy arose, and all beings arose, and all things which they desired."

A different account is given in the same Chhandogya Upanishad, where we are told that "in the beginning there was that only, which is, One only, without a second." And that sent forth fire, and fire sent forth water, and the water sent forth the earth.

The Aitareya Aranyaka describes how Prana, the Universal Breath, created the world, and then discusses the question of the material cause out of which the world was created. As in the Rig-Veda, and as in the Biblical account of creation, water is said to be the first material cause.

"Was it water really? Was it water? Yes, all this was water indeed. The water was the root, the world was the shoot. He (the person) is the father, they (earth, fire, and other elements) are the sons." And elsewhere in the same Upanishad the following account of Creation is given:—

"Verily in the beginning all this was Self one only. There was nothing else whatsoever." And that Self sent forth the water (above the heaven), the lights which are the sky, the mortal which is the earth, and the waters under the earth. He then formed the Purusha, and the universe was produced from the Purusha.

Some of these extracts clearly recognize an original