The Rig Veda hymn X.90 tells the story of the Purusha, who is known as “the Man”, and how he created the world through a sacrificial offering of himself and how, through this offering, his body created the earth, gods, and animals, as well as the tiers of the caste system. The Purusha is described as having “a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet” (verse 1). This visual representation of the Man gives us a sense of his great divinity and how he is an extremely powerful god and he not the same as mortal humans, who only have one head, two eyes, and two feet. The hymn discusses how the Man birth to a female counterpart called Viraj and how Viraj gave birth to him as well (verse 5). This verse provided an interesting paradox for how this creator was created. How can one give birth and then be birthed by the one whom he birthed? It makes you wonder how this is possible. It’s a slightly different concept than the creation ex nihilo concept where something was created out of…show more content… For instance, how the Purusha and Viraj were created but also how the Man was sacrificed by the gods if the gods were not created until after this sacrifice occurred. How can this be possible if one had to come before the other? The question of whether the chicken or the egg came first continuously comes to mind while thinking over this story and it leaves a philosophical debate in its midst. However these beginning things came to be, this creation story ultimately shows how the world was created out of one thing and how this one thing was able to divide into the heavens, the middle sky, and the earth. It also shows how sacrifice is responsible for the creation of everything that is known to exist. It gave me a better understanding for why Hindus see so much of a blessing in their sacrifices and why they include a sacrifice whenever they practice Puja and show devotion and thanks to the
