Nasadiya Sukta - Part 01

Nasadiya Sukta is the 129th hymn on the 10th mandala (book) of the Rig Veda.

It is one of the oldest hymns in Hindusim which deals with the origin of the universe, creation, existence, reality, appearence and evolution. It has 7 slokas. Although Nasadiya Sukta is short in length, the rishi contemplates a lot of philosophical issues and packs in a lot of analysis on various cosmological thought constructs in these few lines.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sloka 1

नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् ।
किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम् ॥१॥

nAsadAsInno sadAsIttadAnIM nAsIdrajo no vyomA paro yat |
kimAvarIvaH kuha kasya sharmannambhaH kimAsIdgahanaM gabhIram ||1||

ná ásat āsīt ná u sát āsīt tadânīm.

na asit rajo na u vioma paro yat.

kím ávarīvaḥ?

kúha?

kásya śármann?

ambha kim asit gahanam gabhiram?

Neither was there non-existence, nor was there existence then

Neither was there land, nor the heaven/sky beyond that.

(In that case), what was the facade (or envelope)? Where? Encased in what?

How could there be/ was there, water, impenetrable and deep?

To be continued in Part 2

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay (2011)