Rig Veda · Mandala 10 · Sukta 129
Rig Veda 10.129 — Creation
Deity: Creation. Rishi family (Mandala 10): Many seers — generally considered latest in composition. This Sukta contains 7 verses presented below in Devanagari Sanskrit, IAST romanisation, and Ralph T. H. Griffith's English translation. Click any verse to read a fuller explanation.
Verses
Rig Veda 10.129.1
नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत | किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद गहनं गभीरम
nāsadāsīn no sadāsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo yat | kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīd ghahanaṃ ghabhīram
Rig Veda 10.129.2
न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः | आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास
na mṛtyurāsīdamṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsītpraketaḥ | ānīdavātaṃ svadhayā tadekaṃ tasmāddhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa
Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.
Rig Veda 10.129.3
तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम | तुछ्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम
tama āsīt tamasā ghūḷamaghre.apraketaṃ salilaṃ sarvamāidam | tuchyenābhvapihitaṃ yadāsīt tapasastanmahinājāyataikam
Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.
Rig Veda 10.129.4
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत | सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा
kāmastadaghre samavartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt | sato bandhumasati niravindan hṛdi pratīṣyākavayo manīṣā
Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.
Rig Veda 10.129.5
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत | रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात
tiraścīno vitato raśmireṣāmadhaḥ svidāsī.a.a.at | retodhāāsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt
Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder
Rig Veda 10.129.6
को अद्धा वेद क इह पर वोचत कुत आजाता कुत इयंविस्र्ष्टिः | अर्वाग देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यताबभूव
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃvisṛṣṭiḥ | arvāgh devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yataābabhūva
Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?
Rig Veda 10.129.7
इयं विस्र्ष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न | यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे वयोमन सो अङग वेद यदि वा नवेद
iyaṃ visṛṣṭiryata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na | yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅgha veda yadi vā naveda
He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.
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