ABSTRACT
According to the enigmatic expressions of their tradition, the water was before every other thing, and it .tilled the space of the whole world. This was, as I understand them, at the beginning of the day of the soul (pzfJrushdhorCtt1'a, p. 332), and the beginning of formation and combination. Further, they say the water was rolling and foaming. Then something white came forth £1'0111 the water, of which the Creator created the egg of Brahman. Now, according to some, the egg broke; Brahman came forth from it, the one half became the heaven, the other the earth, and the broken bits between the two halves became the rains. If they said moun-
tains instead of rains, the matter would be somewhat more plausible. According to others, God spoke to Brahman: "I create an egg, which I make for thy dwelling in it." He had created it of the above mentioned foam of the water, but when the water sank and was absorbed, the egg broke into two halves.
