The Rig Veda - Mandal X - Sukta 129

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The Rig Veda - Mandal X - Sukta 129

In English, it is known as the Hymn of Creation. It is the 129th hymn in the tenth Mandala of the Rig Veda. In Sanskrit, it is known as Natasya Sukta. It is included in Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India. Door Darshan has released a series, Bharat Ek Khoj, based on the book by Jawaharlal Nehru. One may find many videos based on that content. 

Some individual Indian scholars have also presented their videos.

Here is the English translation by Kaegi, as quoted in Surendranath Dasgupta, Ph.D., in his book A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1 (there are six volumes), published in 1922 by Cambridge University, Trinity College Cambridge.  

1. Then there was neither being nor not-being.

The atmosphere was not, nor sky above it. 

What covered all? And where? By what protect? 

Was there the fathomless abyss of waters? 

2. Then neither death nor deathless existed;

Of day and night, there was yet no distinction. 

Alone that one breathed calmly, self-supported,

Other than It was none, not aught above It. 

3. Darkness there was at first in darkness hidden;

The universe was undistinguished water.

That which in void and emptiness lay hidden

Alone by power of fervour was developed. 

4. Then for the first time there arose desire,

Which was the primal germ of mind, within it. 

And sages, searching in their heart, discovered

In Nothing the connecting bond of Being. 

5. The author has refrained from providing the translation. 

However, the English translation offered by A. L. Basham for Fifth Richa, in his renowned classic The Wonder That Was India, can be found at the end of the translation of the Nastya Sukta by Kaegi. 

6. Who is it knows? Who here can tell us surely

From what and how this universe has risen?

And whether not till after it the gods lived?

Who then can know from it has arisen? 

7. The source from which this universe has risen,

And whether it was made, or uncreated,

He only known, who from the highest heaven

Rules, the all-seeing lord – or does He know? 

Now the translation of Fifth Richa as given by A. L. Basham in Wonder that was India. 

5. And they have stretched their cord across the void,

And know what was above and what below.

Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces.

Below was strength, and over it was impulse. 

Comment on  A. L. Basham

The Wonder That Was India was first published in 1954 and was published in India in 1981 by Rupa Paperback, Calcutta. The full name of the book is The Wonder That Was India, a survey of the history and culture of the Indian subcontinent before the coming of the Muslims.

In Wonder that Was India, The Natasya Sukta is included in chapter 7, Religion: Cults, Doctrines, and Metaphysics, under the heading Speculation and Gnosis at page 249. 

While translating the fifth Richa of the Natasya Sukta, the author mentions his version of the terms found in Brahmanical literature.

A. L. Basham has discussed the Hirneygarbha, or Cosmic Egg, as translated by A. L. Basham. According to his understanding of creation, he has attributed the Aspect of creation to the Hirneygarbha. The same thing is found in his Translation of the 5th Richa. It seems the author had not studied the Puranic Literature, which is also part of Ancient Literature. 

I have no clue or basis for understanding why S. N. Gupta omitted the translation of the 5th Richa of Natasya Sukta.

AL Basam attributed this development to later speculation among Vedic scholars. It is important to note here that European scholars, especially from Oxford and Cambridge, considered the tenth mandala a creation of the 10th century BC. On the other hand, Dr S. N. Dasgupta mentioned that the first comment on the hymn of creation was found in another Vedic literature, the Satyapatha Brahman and later the Atharva Veda. 

Purpose and Motive

My purpose here is not to explain Natasya Sukta's content and the core implication in the development of thought. My primary purpose is to show how the finer aspects of Vedic literature were introduced to the Western world by English and German scholars, and through English literature to the rest of the world, at the beginning of the 20th century. They had already received an understanding of the Vedic literature, even in the 19th century, and we find many German and English philosophers influenced by the content of the literature. I request the viewers to watch and take this presentation as evidence of the spread of the ideas given in the literature of the 20th century through English publications.

Snaps of the book’s Reference

Translation of the fifth Richa of Sukta 129 by A. L. Basham

Translation by Kaegi given in SN Dasgupta of Hymn 129 Mandal X of Rig Veda