There is a story that talks about a turtle commonly referred to as the “World Turtle” to be carrying the world we live in on its shell.
Interestingly this is not a legend that was found in one mythology but in many such as Hindu, Chinese, and the mythologies of the Native Americans.
But it is important to notice that even though all these mythologies talk about the existence of the world turtle, its appearance in legends and its contribution to the existence of the world are different.
The Iroquoian tribe, a native North American tribe, tells in their legends that there was only sky and water in the beginning.
In the sky sphere lived the immortal deities or “Sky People” as some legends claim and in the water sphere lived giant animals.
The sky sphere had floating islands on which the sky people lived.
One of the trees on the floating island fell and formed a huge hole in the land.
“Atahensic” who was an Iroquois sky goddess fell through this hole into the water sphere.
Some water birds saw the sky woman falling so before she hit the water the birds rescued her and brought her before other animals.
There was no place Atahensic could rest because there was no land.
A giant turtle appeared from the water mass and offered to become the land.
So animals dived into the depths of the water and took out mud and spread it on the shell of the tortoise.
Soon the mud started to pile up and became the land.
Atahensic was then welcomed to the land by the animals.
She used dust to create stars in the night sky as gratitude for all the animals.
Atahensic was pregnant at the time she fell from the sky and on the back of the tortoise, she gave birth to Earth Mother.
The Earth Mother created trees and all life on land.
She died as she gave birth to twin sons Hahgwehdiyu and Hahgwehdaetgah.
Hahgwehdiyu became a god of goodness and light as well as a creator god.
But Hahgwehdaetgah became the god of evil.
As for a Californian tribe the land rest on not one turtle but 6.
In the beginning, there was no land but water and the creatures who lived in water.
The creator god was not pleased with his creation and wanted to create land.
Just then a giant tortoise emerged from the water and stood before him.
The creator god was pleased by its presence and decided to build the land he wished on its shell.
But one turtle was not enough so he ordered the turtle to bring his brothers as well.
In six days the turtle was able to bring 6 of his brothers before the creator god.
The 7 turtles agreed to carry the land on their backs so the creator god brought soil from the depths of the ocean and spread it on the shells of the 7 turtles.
Soon the backs of the turtles became the land.
The god created life on land and he was pleased.
Soon the land became heavier for the turtles and they began to move and so the earth began to tremble.
This was the first earthquake that happened. The creator god heard the tremble so he appeared before the turtles.
He explained to them that they should stay still or the creation would fall apart.
The turtles agreed and decided to stay still.
But sometimes they become so tired and when they move by the slightest inch the earth shakes and causes earthquakes.
Chinese legends name the world turtle Ao. Ao was a giant marine turtle that lived in the south China sea.
The world was created by gods and they rest the heavens on four pillars.
After the world was created a war broke out between Gong Gong, the water god and Zhurong, the god of fire.
Zhurong defeated the water god in the battle. Unable to accept his defeat Gong Gong deliberately banged his head onto Mount Buzhou.
Mount Buzhou was the northwest pillar that supported the heavens.
Because of the bang half of the sky was destroyed creating a huge hole in the heavens.
The earth was also cracked and the axis was tilted into the southeast while the sky rose into the northwest.
This is said to be the reason why the western region of China is higher than the eastern and that most of its rivers flow towards the southeast.
Nüwa the mother goddess saw the creation being destroyed so she decided to repair the sky.
She gathered colored-stones red yellow blue black and white from the riverbed melted them and used them to patch up the sky.
This explains the reason for the colorful clouds in the sky.
She then killed the giant turtle Ao and cut off the four legs of the creature to use as new pillars to support the sky.
Because of the unequal length of the legs, it made the sky tilt.
According to Hindu mythology, the most widespread name given to the world tortoise is Akupara.
Also, some texts mention the turtle as Kurma or Kurmaraja.
The “Shatapatha Brahmana” is the earliest text to mention Kurma.
According to this text, Kurma is the creator of all creatures.
It identifies the earth as the lower shell of the tortoise the atmosphere as its body and the vault of heaven as its upper shell.
The text mentions Kurma as an avatar of the creator god Prajapati.
After giving birth to the creation the god took the form of a tortoise and held the creation by himself.
Another story identifies the tortoise as the god Vishnu.
Kurma is listed as the second Dashavatara which are the ten principal incarnations of Vishnu.
In the text Mahabharata Book 12 chapter 340 god Vishnu states these 10 incarnations as, “Appearing in the forms of a swan [Hamsa] a tortoise [Kurma] a fish [Matsya] "
"O foremost of regenerate ones I shall then display myself as a boar [Varaha], then as a Man-lion (Nrisingha), then as a dwarf [Vamana], then as Rama of Bhrigu's race, then as Rama the son of Dasaratha, then as Krishna the scion of the Sattwata race, and lastly as Kalki.”
Shesha the king of all serpents is also a primordial creation coiled in space or on the universal ocean to form a bed.
He then offered the bed to Vishnu to rest. On his hood, Shesha holds all the planets and stars of the Universe and constantly sings the glories of Vishnu so the god could rest comfortably.
Not only does Shesha help Vishnu to rest but also stabilizes the earth by holding Vishnu still and protecting him with his hood.
Some other stories and depictions illustrate the existence of 4 elephants on the shell of the world tortoise and the earth rests on the elephants.
These four elephants represent the four cardinal directions.
It is interesting to see the turtle has been adopted as the creature that supports the earth even though different mythologies describe its role differently.
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