Library·Ṛgveda Saṃhitā·10·10.129
नासद् आसीन् नो सद् आसीत् तदानीं नासीद् रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् । किम् आवरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्न् अम्भः किम् आसीद् गहनं गभीरम् ॥
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat | kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṃ gabhīram ||
Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
न मृत्युर् आसीद् अमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत् प्रकेतः । आनीद् अवातं स्वधया तद् एकं तस्माद् धान्यन् न परः किं चनास ॥
na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ | ānīd avātaṃ svadhayā tad ekaṃ tasmād dhānyan 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.
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
तम आसीत् तमसा गूळ्हम् अग्रे ऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वम् आ इदम् । तुच्छ्येनाभ्व् अपिहितं यद् आसीत् तपसस् तन् महिनाजायतैकम् ॥
tama āsīt tamasā gūḷham agre 'praketaṃ salilaṃ sarvam ā idam | tucchyenābhv apihitaṃ yad āsīt tapasas tan mahinājāyataikam ||
Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminate chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
कामस् तद् अग्रे सम् अवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यद् आसीत् । सतो बन्धुम् असति निर् अविन्दन् हृदि प्रतीष्या कवयो मनीषा ॥
kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yad āsīt | sato bandhum asati nir avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo 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.
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिर् एषाम् अधः स्विद् आसी३द् उपरि स्विद् आसी३त् । रेतोधा आसन् महिमान आसन् स्वधा अवस्तात् प्रयतिः परस्तात् ॥
tiraścīno vitato raśmir eṣām adhaḥ svid āsī3d upari svid āsī3t | retodhā āsan 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
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत् कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः । अर्वाग् देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यत आबभूव ॥
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃ visṛṣṭiḥ | arvāg devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābabhūva ||
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?
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)
इयं विसृष्टिर् यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न । यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन् सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा न वेद ॥
iyaṃ visṛṣṭir yata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na | yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅga veda yadi vā na veda ||
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.
Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896)