rites is the cremationof the dead body,
since the impurity will continue to affect
those around the body until it has been
consumed by fire. A second reason for
immediate cremation is to get rid of a
potential host for wandering spirits,
who according to popular fears, can
reanimate a corpse.
Coryat, Thomas
(1577–1617) English traveler in India
popularly known as the English faqir.
Coryat came to India from Persia and
spent several years traveling around the
Moghul empire in northern India as well
as residing in the Moghul court at Agra.
Although at times his need for patron-
age made him play the role of a buffoon
and flatterer, Coryat was a careful
observer who was full of curiosity. He is
believed to have been the first European
traveler to visit the pilgrimage city of
Haridwar, and he was impressed with
the rites performed there. He is also
believed to have gone into the Shiwalik
Hills all the way to the temple at
Jwalamukhi. Unfortunately, Coryat
died of dysentery before he could
record these observations, and the only
available references to these later
journeys come from his companion,
the Reverend Edward Terry. See also
Moghul dynasty.
Cosmic Egg
(brahmanda) One of the traditional
cosmological metaphors, which first
appears in the Markandeya Purana.
This text describes a single swollen
egg floating on the watersof the sea
of pralaya, or cosmic dissolution.
When this egg is broken open by
Brahma, its constituent parts (yolk,
white, shell, and various membranes)
form both the material universe and all
the creatures in it. Although this account
is clearly symbolic, it vividly expresses
the Hindu conviction that all things
have come from a single source,
and thus the entire cosmos is an
organic whole. For further elaboration see
Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen
(eds. and trans.), Classical Hindu
Mythology, 1978.Cosmic Time
In traditional Indian cosmology, time
has neither beginning nor end. Instead
it proceeds in unceasing cyclic alterna-
tions between creation and activity, fol-
lowed by cessation and quietude. The
universe thus has neither an ultimate
beginning nor an ultimate end—cre-
ation will always be followed by destruc-
tion and then destruction by a new
creation. Within the confines of this
assumption, there are several different
and sometimes competing systems for
measuring cosmic time.
The largest generally accepted
measure of time, spanning 4.32 billion
years, is the kalpa, or day of Brahma.
This is the ultimate limit for the
existence of the created world, although
within this period the universe
undergoes periodic renewals. At the
conclusion of the day of Brahma comes
the universal dissolution (pralaya), in
which the universe is completely
destroyed and reabsorbed into the god
Vishnu. The day of Brahma is followed
by a night of equal length, during which
the only living thing is Vishnu; the god
sleeps on the back of his serpent couch,
Shesha, which floats on the surface of
the cosmic ocean. When the night of
Brahma is ended, a lotus sprouts from
Vishnu’s navel. This lotus opens to
reveal the god Brahma, who takes up
the work of creation, and the cycle of
activity begins anew. Because of his
spontaneous appearance at the begin-
ning of every cosmic age, one of the
names for Brahma is Svayambhu(“self-
born”). Unlike the Judeo-Christian con-
cept of creation, Brahma does not create
the world from nothing but merely
arranges and fashions existing elements
into a coherent and ordered cosmos.
The day of Brahma is broken up into
smaller units according to various sys-
tems. By far the most common system is
that of the four yugas, or cosmic ages.
According to this idea, the day ofCosmic Time