Gond Creation Myth — The Lizard That Made the World
According to the Gond tribe of central India, in the beginning there was only water. The supreme god Bhagavan created a tortoise and a lizard to work together to create land. The tortoise dived deep into the waters and brought up mud on its back. The lizard spread this mud across the surface, forming the first solid ground. Bhagavan then breathed life into clay figures to create the first humans, but his first attempts were imperfect. He made a man and woman from clay, but they refused to bear children. Angered, Bhagavan sent termites to eat away the edges of the earth, threatening to sink it