World Turtle
Encyclopedia
The World Turtle is a mytheme
of a giant turtle
(or tortoise
) supporting or containing the world. The mytheme, which is similar to that of the World Elephant and World Serpent
, occurs in Hindu
, Chinese
, and Native American mythology
. The "World-Tortoise" mytheme was discussed comparatively
by Edward Burnett Tylor
(1878:341).
myth of the "Great Turtle" was first recorded between 1678 and 1680 by Jasper Danckaerts
. The myth is shared by other Northeastern Woodlands tribes, notably the Iroquois
.
cut the legs off the giant sea turtle Ao
(鳌) and used them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong
damaged the Buzhou Mountain that had previously supported the heavens.
has various account of World Tortoises, besides a World Serpent (Shesha
), Kurmaraja and world-elephants.
The most widespread name given to the tortoise is Kurma
or Kurmaraja. The Shatapatha Brahmana
identifies the earth as its lower shell, the atmosphere as its body and the vault of heaven as its upper shell.
The name (the Sanskrit for "unbounded") is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana
.
An alleged tortoise Chukwa supporting Mount Meru is reported by Leveson Venables Vernon-Harcourt in 1838.
Vernon-Harcourt claims that this Chukwa was introduced to bishop Heber
"in the Vidalaya school in Benares [by] an astronomical lecturer" (sic; vidyalaya is the Sanskrit for "school"). Chukwa along with Maha-padma (spelled "Maha-pudma") as the name of a world-elephant mentioned in the Ramayana
has subsequently made it into Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
and was further repeated by reference to that work.
The concept of World-Tortoise and World-Elephant was conflated in popular or rhetorical references to Hindu mythology.
The combination of tortoise and elephant is present in John Locke
's 1690 tract An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
, which references an "Indian who said the world was on an elephant which was on a tortoise ".
It is repeated in Bertrand Russell
's 1927 Why I Am Not A Christian
in the reference to "the Hindu's view, that the world rested upon an elephant and the elephant rested upon a tortoise".
A whimsical allusion to such a supposed "tortoise-and-elephant" version of the myth appears in Wilfrid Sellars
' 1956 Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind:
Terry Pratchett
's Discworld
also parodies the supposed tortoise-and-elephants cosmological myth, with the "Giant Star Turtle" Great A'Tuin carrying four elephants on its back which in turn support the world on their backs.
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...
of a giant turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
(or tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
) supporting or containing the world. The mytheme, which is similar to that of the World Elephant and World Serpent
World Serpent
World Serpent may refer to:*Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent, is the serpent surrounding the Earth and grasping his own tail in Norse Mythology.*Naga Shesha in Hindu mythology...
, occurs in Hindu
Hindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
, Chinese
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
, and Native American mythology
Native American mythology
Native American mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Native American religion from a mythographical perspective. Native American belief systems include many sacred narratives. Such spiritual stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with the symbolism of seasons,...
. The "World-Tortoise" mytheme was discussed comparatively
Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes...
by Edward Burnett Tylor
Edward Burnett Tylor
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor , was an English anthropologist.Tylor is representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works Primitive Culture and Anthropology, he defined the context of the scientific study of anthropology, based on the evolutionary theories of Charles Lyell...
(1878:341).
North America
The LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
myth of the "Great Turtle" was first recorded between 1678 and 1680 by Jasper Danckaerts
Jasper Danckaerts
Jasper Danckaerts is the author of a Journal Of A Voyage To New York In 1679-80.Danckaerts was born at Flushing in Zeeland May 7, 1639, the sonof Pieter Danckaerts and Janneke Schilders. He became a...
. The myth is shared by other Northeastern Woodlands tribes, notably the Iroquois
Iroquois mythology
Much of the mythology of the Iroquois has been lost. Some of their religious stories have been preserved, including creation stories and some folktales....
.
China
In Chinese mythology the creator goddess NüwaNüwa
Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven.-Primary sources:...
cut the legs off the giant sea turtle Ao
Ao (turtle)
According to legend, Ao was a large marine turtle or tortoise who lived in the South China Sea during the time of the formation of the world by the goddess Nüwa, creator of mankind...
(鳌) and used them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong
Gong Gong
Gong Gong is a Chinese water god or sea monster, said to resemble a serpent or dragon. He is responsible for the great floods together with his associate, Xiang Yao , who had nine heads and the body of a snake....
damaged the Buzhou Mountain that had previously supported the heavens.
India
Hindu mythologyHindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
has various account of World Tortoises, besides a World Serpent (Shesha
Shesha
In Hindu tradition, Shesha or Sheshanaag is the king of all nagas, one of the primal beings of creation, and according to the Bhagavata Purana, an Avatar of the Supreme God known as Sankarshan. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods and to constantly...
), Kurmaraja and world-elephants.
The most widespread name given to the tortoise is Kurma
Kurma
In Hinduism, Kurma was the second Avatar of Vishnu. Like the Matsya Avatar also belongs to the Satya yuga.-Samudra manthan :...
or Kurmaraja. The Shatapatha Brahmana
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...
identifies the earth as its lower shell, the atmosphere as its body and the vault of heaven as its upper shell.
The name (the Sanskrit for "unbounded") is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
.
An alleged tortoise Chukwa supporting Mount Meru is reported by Leveson Venables Vernon-Harcourt in 1838.
Vernon-Harcourt claims that this Chukwa was introduced to bishop Heber
Reginald Heber
Reginald Heber was the Church of England's Bishop of Calcutta who is now remembered chiefly as a hymn-writer.-Life:Heber was born at Malpas in Cheshire...
"in the Vidalaya school in Benares [by] an astronomical lecturer" (sic; vidyalaya is the Sanskrit for "school"). Chukwa along with Maha-padma (spelled "Maha-pudma") as the name of a world-elephant mentioned in the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
has subsequently made it into Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's, is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions and figures, whether historical or mythical.-History:...
and was further repeated by reference to that work.
The concept of World-Tortoise and World-Elephant was conflated in popular or rhetorical references to Hindu mythology.
The combination of tortoise and elephant is present in John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
's 1690 tract An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
First appearing in 1690 with the printed title An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke concerns the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate filled later through experience...
, which references an "Indian who said the world was on an elephant which was on a tortoise ".
It is repeated in Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
's 1927 Why I Am Not A Christian
Why I Am Not a Christian
Why I Am Not a Christian is a 1927 essay by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell hailed by The Independent as "devastating in its use of cold logic", and listed in the New York Public Library's list of the most influential books of the 20th century....
in the reference to "the Hindu's view, that the world rested upon an elephant and the elephant rested upon a tortoise".
A whimsical allusion to such a supposed "tortoise-and-elephant" version of the myth appears in Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Stalker Sellars was an American philosopher. His father was the Canadian-American philosopher Roy Wood Sellars, a leading American philosophical naturalist in the first half of the twentieth-century...
' 1956 Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind:
- authoritative nonverbal episodes... would constitute the tortoise on which stands the elephant on which rests the edifice of empirical knowledge.
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
also parodies the supposed tortoise-and-elephants cosmological myth, with the "Giant Star Turtle" Great A'Tuin carrying four elephants on its back which in turn support the world on their backs.