Library·Atharvaveda Saṃhitā (Śaunaka)·19·19.53
कालो अश्वो वहति सप्तरश्मिः सहस्राक्षो अजरो भूरिरेताः । तम् आ रोहन्ति कवयो विपश्चितस् तस्य चक्रा भुवनानि विश्वा ॥१॥
kālo aśvo vahati saptaraśmiḥ sahasrākṣo ajaro bhūriretāḥ | tam ā rohanti kavayo vipaścitas tasya cakrā bhuvanāni viśvā ||1||
Time (kālá) drives (vah) [as] a horse with seven reins, thousand-eyed, unaging, possessing much seed; him the inspired poets mount; his wheels are all beings (bhúvana).
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
सप्त चक्रान् वहति काल एष सप्तास्य नाभीर् अमृतं न्व् अक्षः । स इमा विश्वा भुवनान्य् अञ्जत् कालः स ईयते प्रथमो नु देवः ॥२॥
sapta cakrān vahati kāla eṣa saptāsya nābhīr amṛtaṃ nv akṣaḥ | sa imā viśvā bhuvanāny añjat kālaḥ sa īyate prathamo nu devaḥ ||2||
Seven wheels doth this time drive; seven [are] his naves, immortality (amṛ́ta) forsooth [his] axle; he, time, including (?) all these beings, goes on as first god.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
पूर्णः कुम्भो ऽधि काल आहितस् तं वै पश्यामो बहुधा नु सन्तम् । स इमा विश्वा भुवनानि प्रत्यङ् कालं तम् आहुः परमे व्योमन् ॥३॥
pūrṇaḥ kumbho 'dhi kāla āhitas taṃ vai paśyāmo bahudhā nu santam | sa imā viśvā bhuvanāni pratyaṅ kālaṃ tam āhuḥ parame vyoman ||3||
A full vessel is set upon time; we indeed see it, being now manifoldly; it [is] in front of all these beings; it call they time in the highest firmament (vyòman).
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
स एव सं भुवनान्य् आभरत् स एव सं भुवनानि पर्य् ऐत् । पिता सन्न् अभवत् पुत्र एषां तस्माद् वै नान्यत् परम् अस्ति तेजः ॥४॥
sa eva saṃ bhuvanāny ābharat sa eva saṃ bhuvanāni pary ait | pitā sann abhavat putra eṣāṃ tasmād vai nānyat param asti tejaḥ ||4||
He indeed together brought beings; he indeed together went about (pari-i) beings; being father, he became son of them; than him verily there is no other brilliancy that is higher (pára).
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
कालो ऽमूं दिवम् अजनयत् काल इमाः पृथिवीर् उत । काले ह भूतं भव्यं चेषितं ह वि तिष्ठते ॥५॥
kālo 'mūṃ divam ajanayat kāla imāḥ pṛthivīr uta | kāle ha bhūtaṃ bhavyaṃ ceṣitaṃ ha vi tiṣṭhate ||5||
Time generated yonder sky, time also these earths; what is and what is to be stands out sent forth by time.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
कालो भूतिम् असृजत काले तपति सूर्यः । काले ह विश्वा भूतानि काले चक्षुर् वि पश्यति ॥६॥
kālo bhūtim asṛjata kāle tapati sūryaḥ | kāle ha viśvā bhūtāni kāle cakṣur vi paśyati ||6||
Time created the earth; in time burns (tap) the sun; in time [are] all existences; in time the eye looks abroad.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
काले मनः काले प्राणः काले नाम समाहितम् । कालेन सर्वा नन्दन्त्य् आगतेन प्रजा इमाः ॥७॥
kāle manaḥ kāle prāṇaḥ kāle nāma samāhitam | kālena sarvā nandanty āgatena prajā imāḥ ||7||
In time is mind, in time is breath, in time is name collected (sam-ā-dhā); by time, when arrived, all these creatures (prajā́) are glad (nand).
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
काले तपः काले ज्येष्ठम् काले ब्रह्म समाहितम् । कालो ह सर्वस्येश्वरो यः पितासीत् प्रजापतेः ॥८॥
kāle tapaḥ kāle jyeṣṭham kāle brahma samāhitam | kālo ha sarvasyeśvaro yaḥ pitāsīt prajāpateḥ ||8||
In time is fervor, in time is what is chief, in time is the bráhman collected; time is the lord (īçvará) of all, who was father of Prajāpati.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
तेनेषितं तेन जातं तद् उ तस्मिन् प्रतिष्ठितम् । कालो ह ब्रह्म भूत्वा बिभर्ति परमेष्ठिनम् ॥९॥
teneṣitaṃ tena jātaṃ tad u tasmin pratiṣṭhitam | kālo ha brahma bhūtvā bibharti parameṣṭhinam ||9||
Sent by it, born by it, in it is this (tát) set firm; time, becoming the bráhman, bears the most exalted one.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)
कालः प्रजा असृजत कालो अग्रे प्रजापतिम् । स्वयंभूः कश्यपः कालात् तपः कालाद् अजायत ॥१०॥
kālaḥ prajā asṛjata kālo agre prajāpatim | svayaṃbhūḥ kaśyapaḥ kālāt tapaḥ kālād ajāyata ||10||
Time generated progeny, time in the beginning Prajāpati; the self-existent Kaçyapa from time, fervor from time was born.
Translated by William Dwight Whitney (1905)