The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• Introduction
• Errata
• Vedic Hymns
• Agnİ
• Savitṛ́
• MarÚtas
• VİṢṆu
• Dyá̄vĀ-pṚthiví̄
• Índra
• RudrÁ
• Apá̄Ṃ NÁpĀt
• MitrÁ
• Bṛ́haspÁti
• UṢÁs
• AgnÍ
• ParjÁnya
• PŪṢÁn
• Á̄pas
• Mitrá̄-vÁruṆĀ
• Sú̄rya
• AŚvÍnĀ
• VÁruṆa
• MaṆḌŪkĀs
• VÍŚve Devá̄Ḥ
• SÓma
• Funeral Hymn
• PitÁras
• Hymn of the Gambler
• PÚruṢa
• Rá̄trĪ
• Hymn of Creation
• YamÁ
• Vá̄ta
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations

HYMN OF CREATION

In the following cosmogonic poem the origin of the world is explained as the evolution of the existent (sát) from the non-existent (ásat). Water thus came into being first; from it was evolved intelligence by heat. It is the starting-point of the natural philosophy which developed into the Sāṅkhya system.

x. 129. Metre: Triṣṭubh.

See Page Number 207, Hymn Number 1 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 1

  ná̄sad āsīn, nó sád āsīt tadá̄nīṃ;
• ná̄sīd rájo nó víomā paró yát.
• kím á̄varīvaḥ? kúha? kásya śármann?
• ámbhaḥ kím āsīd, gáhanaṃ gabhīrám?

There was not the non-existent nor the existent then; there was not the air nor the heaven which is beyond. What did it contain? Where? In whose protection? Was there water, unfathomable, profound?

Cf. ŚB. x. 5, 3, 1: ná_ᴗiva vá̄ idám ágré५sad āsīd ná_ᴗiva sạ́d āsīt verily this (universe) was in the beginning neither non-existent nor existent as it were. tadá̄nīm: before the creation. āsīt: the usual form of the 3. s. ipf. of as be; the rarer form occurs in 3 b. nó: for ná u (24). víomā: the final vowel metrically lengthened (cp. p. 440, 4 B). parás: adv.; on the accent cp. note on ii. 35, 6 c. á̄ avarīvar: 3. s. ipf. int. of vṛ cover(cp. 173, 3); what did it cover up = conceal or contain? kúha: where was it? kásya śárman: who guarded it? kím: here as an inter. pcl. (p. 225). ámbhas: cp. 3 b, and TS., á̄po vá̄ idám ágre salilám āsīt this (universe) in the beginning was the waters, the ocean.

See Page Number 208, Hymn Number 2 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 2

  ná mṛtyúr āsīd, amṛ́taṃ ná tárhi.
• ná rá̄triā áhna āsīt praketáḥ.
• á̄nīd avātáṃ svadháyā tád ékaṃ.
• tásmād dhānyán ná paráḥ kíṃ caná̄sa.

There was not death nor immortality then. There was not the beacon of night, nor of day. That one breathed, windless, by its own power. Other than that there was not anything beyond.

rá̄tryās: gen. of rá̄trī (p. 87). áhnas: gen. of áhan (91, 2). á̄nīt: 3. s. ipf. of an breathe(p. 143, 3 a). tásmād: governed by anyád (p. 317, 3). dha for ha: 54. anyán ná: 33. parás: cp. note on 1 b. āsa: pf. of as be(135, 2).

See Page Number 208, Hymn Number 3 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 3

  táma āsīt támasā gūḷhám ágre;
• apraketáṃ saliláṃ sárvam ā idám.
• tuchyénābhú ápihitam yád á̄sīt,
• tápasas tán mahiná̄jāyatáikam.

Darkness was in the beginning hidden by darkness; indistinguishable, this all was water. That which, coming into being, was covered with the void, that One arose through the power of heat.

gūḷhám: pp. of guh hide(69 c, cp. 3 b γ, p. 3 and 13). ās: 3. s. ipf. of as be(p. 142, 2 b); this form is also found twice (i. 85, 1. 7) alternating with āsīt. b is a Jagatī intruding in a Triṣṭubh stanza (cp. p. 445, f. n. 7). ābhú: the meaning of this word is illustrated by ā-babhú̄va in 6 d and 7 a. mahiná̄ = mahimná̄ (90, 2, p. 69).

See Page Number 209, Hymn Number 4 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 4

  ká̄mas tád ágre sám avartatá̄dhi,
• mánaso rétaḥ prathamáṃ yád á̄sīt.
• sató bándhum ásati nír avindan
• hṛdí pratí̄ṣyā kaváyo manīṣá̄.

Desire in the beginning came upon that, (desire) that was the first seed of mind. Sages seeking in their hearts with wisdom found out the bond of the existent in the non-existent.

ádhi sám avartata: 3. s. ipf. Ā. of vṛt turn, with sám come into being; ádhi upon makes the verb transitive = come upon, take possession of. tád that = tád ékam in 2 c, the unevolved universe. One of the two prps. here is placed after the vb. (cp. 191 f, and p. 468, 20 A a). yád: referring to ká̄mas is attracted in gender to the predicate n. rétas. satás: they found the origin of the evolved world in the unevolved. prati-íṣyā: the gd. in ya has often a long final vowel (164, 1) which is always short in the Padapāṭha. manīṣá̄: inst. of f. in ā (p. 77).

See Page Number 210, Hymn Number 5 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 5

  tiraścí̄no vítato raśmír eṣām:
• adháḥ svid āsí̄3d, upári svid āsī3t?
• retodhá̄ āsan, mahimá̄na āsan;
• svadhá̄ avástāt, práyatiḥ parástāt.

Their cord was extended across: was there below or was there above? There were impregnators, there were powers; there was energy below, there was impulse above.

raśmís: the meaning of this word here is uncertain, but it may be an explanation of bándhu in 4 c: the cord with which the sages (referred to by eṣām) in thought measured out the distance between the existent and non-existent, or between what was above and below; cp. viii. 25, 18, pári yó raśmínā divó ántān mamé pṛthivyá̄ḥ who with a cord has measured out the ends of heaven and earth; cp. also the expression sú̄traṃ vítatam (in AV. x. 8, 37)the extended string with reference to the earth. āsīt: accented because in an antithetical sentence (p. 468, 19 B β). The ī is prolated, and that syllable (and not ā) has the Udātta, as in the final syllable of a sentence in questions (Pāṇini viii. 2, 97); the second question upári svid āsī3t is quoted by Pāṇini (viii. 2, 102) as coming under this rule, but without accent. retodhá̄s and mahimá̄nas are contrasted as male and female cosmogonic principles, to which correspond respectively práyatis and svadhá̄. In TS. iv. 3, 11, 1, mention is made of tráyo mahimá̄naḥ connected with fertility. svadhá̄: this is one of the five examples of a N. f. in ā left uncontracted with a following vowel: it is probable that the editors of the Saṃhitā text treated these forms as ending in āḥ, while the Padapāṭha gives them without Visarjanīya, doubtless owing to the greatly increasing prevalence of the nominatives in ā.

See Page Number 211, Hymn Number 6 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 6

  kố addhá̄ veda? ká ihá prá vocat,
• kúta á̄jātā, kúta iyáṃ vísṛṣṭiḥ?
• arvá̄g devá̄ asyá visárjanena:
• áthā kó veda yáta ābabhú̄va?

Who knows truly? Who shall here declare, whence it has been produced, whence is this creation? By the creation of this (universe) the gods (come) afterwards: who then knows whence it has arisen?

vocat: a ao. inj. of vac. kutás: b has one syllable too many (p. 441, 4 a). arvá̄k: the sense is that the gods, being part of the creation, are later than the period preceding the creation, and therefore can know nothing of the origin of the universe. áthā: with metrically lengthened final vowel (p. 440, 4; cp. 179, 1).

See Page Number 211, Hymn Number 7 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 7

  iyáṃ vísṛṣṭir yáta ābabhú̄va;
• yádi vā dadhé yádi vā ná:
• yố asyá̄dhyakṣaḥ paramé víoman
• số aṅgá veda, yádi vā ná véda.

Whence this creation has arisen; whether he founded it or did not: he who in the highest heaven is its surveyor, he only knows, or else he knows not.

a and b are dependent on veda in d. asya: of this universe. b is defective by two syllables (p. 440, 4 a): possibly a metrical pause expressive of doubt may have been intended. vyòman: loc. (90, 2). véda: the accent is due to the formal influence of yádi (p. 246, 3 a).