Editing Creator deity (section)

===Hinduism===
{{Main|Hindu views on evolution}}
[[File:A roundel of Brahma.jpg|thumb|Brahma is often associated with Creation in Hinduism; however, has been demoted to a secondary creator in post-Vedic period.]]
Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning [[monotheism]], [[polytheism]], [[panentheism]], [[Hindu views on Pantheism|pantheism]], [[pandeism]], [[monism]], and [[Atheism in Hinduism|atheism]] among others;<ref>[[Julius J. Lipner]] (2010), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-45677-7}}, page 8; Quote: "(...) one need not be religious in the minimal sense described to be accepted as a Hindu by Hindus, or describe oneself perfectly validly as Hindu. One may be polytheistic or monotheistic, monistic or pantheistic, even an agnostic, humanist or atheist, and still be considered a Hindu."</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Chakravarti| first = Sitansu| title = Hinduism, a way of life| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publ.| year = 1991| page = 71| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71| isbn = 978-81-208-0899-7}}</ref><ref group=note name="EBpolytheism">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38143/polytheism |title=Polytheism|access-date= 5 July 2007 |year=2007 |author =Ninian Smart | encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}</ref> and its concept of creator deity is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. Hinduism is sometimes referred to as [[henotheistic]] (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others), but any such term is an overgeneralization.<ref name=heno>See {{harvnb|Michaels|2004|p=xiv}} and {{cite web |url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/egyptmyth/g/henotheism.htm |title=Henotheism |access-date=5 July 2007 |last=Gill |first=N.S |publisher=[[About.com|About, Inc]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317151629/http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/egyptmyth/g/henotheism.htm |archive-date=17 March 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The ''[[Nasadiya Sukta]]'' (''Creation Hymn'') of the ''[[Rig Veda|Rigveda]]'' is one of the earliest texts{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=226}} which "demonstrates a sense of metaphysical speculation" about what created the universe, the concept of god(s) and The One, and whether even The One knows how the universe came into being.<ref>{{harvnb|Flood|1996|p=226}}; {{harvnb|Kramer|1986|pp=20–21}}</ref><ref name=3translations>
*Original Sanskrit: [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१२९ Rigveda 10.129] Wikisource;
*'''Translation 1''': {{cite book|author=Max Muller|title=A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature|date=1859|publisher=Williams and Norgate, London|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofancient00mluoft#page/564/mode/2up|pages=559–565|author-link=Max Muller}}
*'''Translation 2''': {{cite book|author=Kenneth Kramer|title=World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions|date=1986|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=0-8091-2781-4|page=21}}
*'''Translation 3''': {{cite book|author=David Christian|title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History|date=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-95067-2|pages=17–18}}</ref> The ''Rig Veda'' praises various deities, none superior nor inferior, in a henotheistic manner.<ref>[[Max Muller]] (1878), Lectures on the Origins and Growth of Religions: As Illustrated by the Religions of India, Longmans Green & Co, pages 260–271;<br />'''William Joseph Wilkins''', {{Google books|ZBUHAAAAQAAJ|Hindu Mythology: Vedic and Purānic|page=8}}, London Missionary Society, Calcutta</ref> The hymns repeatedly refer to One Truth and Reality. The "One Truth" of Vedic literature, in modern era scholarship, has been interpreted as monotheism, monism, as well as a deified Hidden Principles behind the great happenings and processes of nature.<ref>'''HN Raghavendrachar''' (1944), [http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/15675/1/12MONISMINTHEVEDAS.pdf Monism in the Vedas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206070146/http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/15675/1/12MONISMINTHEVEDAS.pdf |date=6 February 2015 }}, The half-yearly journal of the Mysore University: Section A - Arts, Volume 4, Issue 2, pages 137–152;<br />'''K Werner''' (1982), Men, gods and powers in the Vedic outlook, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 114, Issue 01, pages 14–24;<br />'''H Coward''' (1995), Book Review:" The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda's Reinterpretation of the Vedas", Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Volume 8, Issue 1, pages 45–47, '''Quote''': "There is little doubt that the theo-monistic category is an appropriate one for viewing a wide variety of experiences in the Hindu tradition".</ref>

The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of [[cosmogony]], many involving [[Brahma]]. These include ''Sarga'' (primary creation of universe) and ''Visarga'' (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging ([[metaphysics|metaphysical]]) and other secondary that is always changing ([[empiricism|empirical]]), and that all observed reality of the latter is in an endless repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created.<ref name=tpinchman125>Tracy Pintchman (1994), The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791421123}}, pages 122–138</ref> The primary creator is extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies with ''Brahman'' or ''[[Purusha]]'' or ''[[Devi]]'' among the terms used for the primary creator,<ref name=tpinchman125/><ref>Jan Gonda (1969), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40457085 The Hindu Trinity], Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pages 213–214</ref> while the Vedic and post-Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators (often Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some cases a different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle (''kalpa'', aeon).<ref name="Stella Kramrisch 1994 pages 205–206">Stella Kramrisch (1994), The Presence of Siva, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691019307}}, pages 205–206</ref><ref name=tpinchman125/>

Brahma is a "secondary creator" as described in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and [[Puranas]], and among the most studied and described.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Bryant|editor-first1=Edwin F.|title=Krishna : a sourcebook|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-514891-6|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sutton|first1=Nicholas|title=Religious doctrines in the Mahābhārata|date=2000|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|location=Delhi|isbn=81-208-1700-1|pages=182|edition=1st}}</ref><ref>Asian Mythologies by Yves Bonnefoy & Wendy Doniger. Page 46</ref> Born from a lotus emerging from the navel of [[Vishnu]], Brahma creates all the forms in the universe, but not the primordial universe itself.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Bryant|editor-first1=Edwin F.|title=Krishna : a sourcebook|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-514891-6|page=18}}</ref> In contrast, the [[Shiva]]-focused Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by [[Ardhanarishvara]], that is half Shiva and half Parvati; or alternatively, Brahma was born from [[Rudra]], or Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma creating each other cyclically in different aeons ([[Kalpa (aeon)|kalpa]]).<ref name="Stella Kramrisch 1994 pages 205–206"/> Thus in most Puranic texts, Brahma's creative activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god.<ref name="Continuum">{{cite book|last1=Frazier|first1=Jessica|title=The Continuum companion to Hindu studies | date=2011|publisher=Continuum|location=London|isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0|pages=72}}</ref>

In other versions of creation, the creator deity is the one who is equivalent to the [[Brahman]], the metaphysical reality in Hinduism. In [[Vaishnavism]], Vishnu creates Brahma and orders him to order the rest of universe. In [[Shaivism]], Shiva may be treated as the creator. In [[Shaktism]], the [[Mahadevi|Great Goddess]] creates the Trimurti.<ref name="Stella Kramrisch 1994 pages 205–206"/><ref name=tpinchman125/><ref>{{cite book |pages=64–65 |author=Arvind Sharma|title=Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDmUToaeMJ0C |year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564441-8}}</ref>