The Hymn of Creation (Nāsadīya Sūkta)
Rigveda X.129, known as the Nāsadīya Sūkta from its opening words ("nāsad āsīt" — "there was not non-being"), is a hymn of seven triṣṭubh verses from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, and perhaps the most celebrated cosmogonic poem of the ancient world. It does not narrate a creation; it interrogates one, and ends by doubting whether even the highest witness knows the answer.
The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia. This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. Then there was neither non-being nor being; there was no mid-space, nor the sky that is beyond it. What stirred? Where? In whose keeping? Was there water — a deep beyond fathoming?
2. There was no death then, nor deathlessness; no sign to tell night from day. That One breathed, windless, by its own inner power. Other than it there was nothing at all.
3. In the beginning there was darkness hidden by darkness; all this was water without a sign. The quickening germ that lay covered by the void — that One was born by the great power of heat.
4. In the beginning desire came upon That One — desire, the first seed of mind. Poets, searching in the heart with wisdom, found the bond of being within non-being.
5. Their measuring-cord was stretched across: was there a below? was there an above? There were seed-givers, there were powers — inherent force below, offering-impulse above.
6. Who truly knows? Who here will declare it? From where was it born — from where, this creation? The gods came afterward, with the sending-forth of this world; so who knows from what it arose?
7. This creation — from what it arose, whether he founded it or whether he did not: he who is its overseer in the highest heaven, he surely knows. Or perhaps he does not know.
Translator's note: In verse 1, "what stirred" renders the intensive āvarīvaḥ, whose root is disputed (to turn or stir, or to cover); the questioning motion is certain, the exact verb is not. In verse 3, "the quickening germ… covered by the void" renders tucchyenābhv apihitam, where ābhu (a coming-into-being) and tucchya (emptiness) are both rare words. Svadhā in verses 2 and 5 is the One's own self-sustaining power, left as "inner power" and "inherent force." The lengthened vowels written āsī3t in verse 5 mark a rising question-intonation in recitation — the poem audibly asks.
Colophon
Rigveda X.129 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.129
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṁ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat |
kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṁ gabhīram || 1 ||
na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṁ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ |
ānīd avātaṁ svadhayā tad ekaṁ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṁ canāsa || 2 ||
tama āsīt tamasā gūḻham agre 'praketaṁ salilaṁ sarvam ā idam |
tucchyenābhv apihitaṁ yad āsīt tapasas tan mahinājāyataikam || 3 ||
kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṁ yad āsīt |
sato bandhum asati nir avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo manīṣā || 4 ||
tiraścīno vitato raśmir eṣām adhaḥ svid āsī3d upari svid āsī3t |
retodhā āsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt || 5 ||
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ |
arvāg devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābabhūva || 6 ||
iyaṁ visṛṣṭir yata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na |
yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅga veda yadi vā na veda || 7 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).