Hymn of Creation
from Rig Veda
(Mandala 10)
there was neither non-existence nor existence then
there was neither sky nor heaven beyond it
what covered it and where? what sheltered it?
was there a bottomless abyss of water?
there was neither death nor deathlessness
there existed no sign of night nor of day
the One breathed breathless by its own nature
there existed nothing else beyond that
at first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness
all was like water without shape
next the germ concealed by emptiness
arose through the power of heat
then first desire developed from thought
the primal seed born of the mind
poets searching in their hearts with wisdom
discovered the bond between being and non-being
that cord was stretched across the void
did something exist below it? did something exist above?
seeds were sown and mighty powers arose
below was strength and above it was urge
who knows and who can here tell
from where this creation sprang?
the gods came later into being
so who knows from where it arose?
from where this creation came
whether it formed itself or perhaps not
the overseer of this world in highest heaven
only he knows it - or perhaps even he knows not?
[The Hindu deity Krishna playing the flute
15th c., Asian Art Museum of San Francisco]
The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. It is a collection of over 1000 Vedic Sanskrit hymns to the Hindu gods. The Rig Veda originated between 1700 and 1000 BCE, making it one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. It was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent.
The text is layered consisting of the Samhita (hymns to the deities, the oldest part of the Rigveda), Brahmanas (commentaries on the hymns), Aranyakas ("forest books") and Upanishads. The Samhita is the core text, and is a collection of 10 books (mandalas) with 1,028 hymns in about 10,600 verses. The hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Agni, the sacrificial fire, and the heroic god Indra. Book 10 also contains the "Nasadiya sukta" which contains speculations about the origin of universe, and whether anyone can know the right answer - the text translated above.
It is interesting to see that according to this hymn there is no creator, but that the universe comes spontaneously into being (an idea also prevalent in Chinese Daoism and in the Japanese Kojiki) - something close to modern scientific ideas about the Big Bang. And just as in the case of the Big bang, the hymn states that we can not know what preceded the universe (if anything did).
The above translation is a composite version based on various translations.
Translations:
Seven English versions collected at Creation Myths
Synthesized version by Stefan Stenudd at Creation Myths (also contains extensive discussion of the text)
Translation at Wikiquote (Ralph T. H. Griffith)
Translation at Embodied Philosophy (Wendy Doniger)
Photos: via Wikimedia Commons
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