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Pan-gu

by Micha F. Lindemans

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The primordial Chinese giant who was born as a dwarf from the cosmic
egg. The upper part of the egg formed the Heaven (Yang) and the lower
part formed the Earth (Yin). Pan-gu, growing ten feet a day, pushed
the egg shells further and further apart. Then, after 13.000 years
(other sources state 18,000 years), he himself burst apart. His eyes
became the sun and the moon, his head the four sacred mountains, his
blood the seas and the rivers, his hair turned into the grasses and
trees, his breath became the wind, his sweat turned into rain, and his
voice into thunder. The fleas that had been living on his skin became
the ancestors of the human race. Different sources describe this
transformation in different ways.

A second myth, however, relates that he was born from the five
elements, and that he created heaven and earth with a chisel and a
hammer. He is depicted by the Taoists as a shaggy primitive being
bearing a huge hammer with which he breaks up the primeval rocks.

The name of Pan-gu in traditional Chinese format.
The name of Pan-gu in traditional Chinese format.

Article details
Other names:
P'an-ku

Article created on 03 March 1997; last modified on 16 January 2004.
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