Nasadiya Sukta (Selected Verses)
About this stotra
Nasadiya Sukta (नासदीयसूक्तम्) - the Hymn of Creation from the Rig Veda (10.129) - is one of the most profound speculative hymns in world literature. It contemplates the mystery of creation, questioning whether even the gods know how it all began.
|| नासदीयसूक्तम् ||
नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् । किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम् ॥१॥
nāsadāsīnno sadāsīttadānīṃ nāsīdrajo no vyomā paro yat | kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīdgahanaṃ gabhīram ||1||
Neither non-existence nor existence existed at that time. There was no realm of space, nor the sky beyond. What stirred? Where? Under whose protection? Was there water - deep, unfathomable?
न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः । आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन्न परः किञ्चनास ॥२॥
na mṛtyurāsīdamṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsītpraketaḥ | ānīdavātaṃ svadhayā tadekaṃ tasmāddhānyanna paraḥ kiñcanāsa ||2||
There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no sign of day or night. That One breathed, without wind, by its own impulse. Other than that, there was nothing beyond.
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यदासीत् । सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन्हृदि प्रतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ॥३॥
kāmastadagre samavartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt | sato bandhumasati niravindanhṛdi pratīṣyākavayo manīṣā ||3||
Desire arose in the beginning - that was the first seed of the mind. The sages, searching in their hearts, discovered the connection between existence and non-existence.
॥ इति नासदीयसूक्तस्य चयनितऋचः ॥
The Nasadiya Sukta (Rig Veda 10.129) is one of the most famous hymns in the Vedic corpus. It questions the origins of creation and ends with a note of profound agnosticism: “The gods came later, after creation - who, then, knows how it all began?”