A Hymn of Maṇḍala 10
Rigveda X.129 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. 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 by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
The Unbeing was not, nor yet the Being.
The airy vastness was not spread, nor the heavens set above.
What stirred, what moved? And whence? Beneath whose watch?
Did waters lie, deep-folded in the dark?
Death was not, nor yet the deathless.
No mark was there of night, nor sign of day.
That One did breathe without the breath of wind, By its own will alone, and naught beside it lay.
Darkness wrapped in darkness was in the beginning.
All was a flood without sign or shape.
What stirred within the hollow of the void— That One was born through the fire of will.
Then rose in the first dawn of thought the longing— The seed that was the first.
Wise men, deep in the heart’s seeking,
Found the thread between the Being and the Not.
Their line was cast across the deep—
Was aught beneath it? Was aught above?
Bearers of seed there were, and lofty mights; Below was longing, above the gift.
Who truly knoweth? Who here may speak it forth?
Whence sprang this world, and how came it to be?
The gods came after—it was not their doing.
Then who knoweth whence it arose?
He that looketh from the height, the keeper of all, He may know—or knows he not at all?
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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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).
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