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A popular Tibetan myth about the origin of Tibet and Tibetan peoples is that the Tibetans are descendants of a Bodhisattva^[1] monkey and a rock-ogress^[2]. The six offspring from their union, at a place called Tsethang in central Tibet, were said to be the ancestors of six popularly known tribes of Tibet, i.e. se, mu, mdong, stong, dra and bru. While the rock-ogress part may be mythical, many take pride in the monkey part as being in alignment with Darwin's theory of evolution. Another theory has it that Tibetans were descendants of an Indian king Rupati and his followers who fled to the Himalayas after his defeat in the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra in India.

These two theories are quite popular and ostentatiously prounounced in numerous texts of Tibetan history and religion. But these two theories emerged only after the establishment of Buddhism in the land. However, there exists another ancient Tibetan myth of a cosmic egg, based on early oral and the indigenous Bon religion about the origin of the universe and human species, which is less widely known. In this chapter, we shall study the two popular myths, their origin and contradictions. It will also explore the lesser known pre-Buddhist ancient myth and bring alive the indigenous Tibetan myth about the origin of Tibet, Tibetans and the universe.