THE RIG VEDA

The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas. It consists of hymns which
are generally thought to have been composed between 1500 and 1000 BCE,
although this chronology has been challenged lately, and it is possible that
they are significantly older. The other three include the Samaveda, the
sacrificial chants, the Yajurveda, the sacrificial formulas, and the Atharva
Veda which is a compendium of miscellany consisting of spells, cures and
curses. They were orally transmitted via a complex process of multiple,
overlapping methods of memorization, which insured their preservation
throughout the ages. The Vedas are considered to be the central
scriptures of Hinduism, and are still studied, chanted and revered by many
Hindus today.

Translated by Michael Myers

The Hymn of Creation

This hymn explores the issue of the creation of the universe, which is depicted as
a mysterious and perhaps ultimately unknowable process. There is a familiar
reference to a dark watery chaos enlivened by wind. Particular importance is
placed on the role of desire, while the existence of a creator is questioned.

The non-existent was not; the existent was not at that time. The atmosphere was
not nor the heavens which are beyond. What was concealed? Where? In whose
protection? Was it water? An unfathomable abyss?

There was neither death nor immortality then. There was not distinction of day or
night. That alone breathed windless by its own power. Other than that there was
not anything else.

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning. All this was an

Upon that desire arose in the beginning. This was the first discharge of thought.
Sages discovered this link of the existent to the nonexistent, having searched in
the heart with wisdom.

Their line [of vision] was extended across; what was below, what was above?
There were impregnators, there were powers: inherent power below, impulses
above.
Who knows truly? Who here will declare whence it arose, whence this creation?
The gods are subsequent to the creation of this. Who, then, knows whence it has
come into being?

Whence this creation has come into being; whether it was made or not; he in the
highest heaven is its surveyor. Surely he knows, or perhaps he knows not.

To Agni (Fire)

Agni is both fire and the god of fire, and he became one of the most central
deities of the Vedic sacrificial cult, for it was he who transmitted the offerings to
the heavens. His role was that of a mediator between the sacred and the
mundane. As such he was often compared to the brahmins, the human priests
who played a similar mediating role in ancient Indian society, and this
comparision is made in this poem.

I call upon Agni, the one placed in front, the divine priest of the sacrifice, the
invoker, the best bestower of gifts.

Agni is worthy of being called upon by seers past and present: may he bring the
gods here!

Through Agni may one obtain wealth and prosperity day by day, splendid and
abounding in heroic sons.

O Agni, the sacrifice and work of the sacrifice, which you encompass on all
sides--that alone goes to the gods.

May Agni, the invoker who has the powers of a sage, true and most brilliant in
glory, come here, a god with the gods!

Whatsoever favor you wish to do for a worshipper, Agni, that favor of yours
surely comes true, O Angiras [member of a priestly family].

O Agni, you who gleam in the darkness, to you we come day by day, with
devotion and bearing homage; to you, ruler of the sacrifices, keeper of the Rta
[cosmic law], brightly shining, growing in your abode.

So, be of easy access to us, Agni, as a father to his son. Abide with us for our
well-being.
To Indra

Indra was the chief of the heavenly gods, and is depicted first and foremost as a
warrior wielding the terrible thunderbolt, and is akin to the Greek God Zeus. He
was considered as well to be the paradigm for the kshatriya (warrior) class, who
were to use their strength and wealth to protect and support the brahmins.

The one who is first and possessed of wisdom when born; the god who strove to
protect the gods with strength; the one before whose force the two worlds were
afraid because of the greatness of his virility: he, O people, is Indra.

The one who made firm the quaking earth; the one who made fast the shaken
mountains; the one who measured out wide the atmosphere; the one who
propped up heaven: he, O people, is Indra.

The one who, having killed the serpent, released the seven rivers; the one who
drove out the cows by opening Vala [a cattle pen] the one who generates fire
between two rocks, victor in battles: he, O people, is Indra.

The one by whom all things here were made moving; the one who put in hiding
the lowly Dasa color; the one who, like a gambler who has won the stake, has
taken the enemy's possessions: he, O people, is Indra.

The one who is the terrible one, about whom they ask "Where is he?" and they
say of him, "He is not!" He diminished the enemy's possessions like stakes [at a
game]. Put your faith in him: he, O people, is Indra.

The one who is the impeller of the weary, of the weak, of the Brahman seeking
aid, the singer; the one with goodly mustaches who is the helper of him who
works the stones, who has pressed the Soma (2): he, O people, is Indra.

The one in whose control are horses, cows, villages, all chariots; the one who
has caused to be born the sun, the dawn; the one who is the waters' leader: he,
O people, is Indra.

The one whom the two lines of battle, coming together, call upon separately, the
nearer and the farther, both foes; even the two who have mounted the same
chariot call upon him individually: he, O people, is Indra.

The one without whom people do not conquer; the one to whom, when fighting,
they call for help; the one who is a match for everyone; the one who shakes the
unshakable: he, O people, is Indra.
Hymn of Purusa, the Cosmic Person

This very important hymn is usually considered to be one of the latest of the Rig
Vedic hymns. It relates the creation of the world out of the sacrifice of purusa,
the cosmic person. Purusa literally means person in Sanskrit. As the cosmic
person we see both elements of the cosmos and the social hierarchy mapped
onto the human body. This hierarchy consisted of four varnas or castes, which
are: (1) the brahmins, the priestly class; (2) the kshatriya, the warrior and ruling
class; (3) the vaishya, the merchant and farmer class; and the shudra, or servant
class.

Thousand-headed is Purusa, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed. Having covered

Only Purusa is all this, that which has been and that which is to be. He is the lord
of the immortals, who grow by means of [ritual] food.

Such is his greatness, yet more than this is Purusa. One-quarter of him is all
beings; three- quarters of him is the immortal in heaven.

Three-quarters of Purusa went upward, one-quarter of him remained here. From

From him the shining one was born, from the shining one was born Purusa.
When born he extended beyond the earth, behind as well as in front.

When the gods performed a sacrifice with the offering Purusa, spring was its
clarified butter, summer the kindling, autumn the oblation.

It was Purusa, born in the beginning, which they sprinkled on the sacred grass as
a sacrifice. With him the gods sacrificed, the demi-gods, and the seers.

From that sacrifice completely offered, the clotted butter was brought together. It
made the beasts of the air, the forest and the village.

From that sacrifice completely offered, the mantras [Rig Veda] and the songs
[Samaveda] were born. The meters were born from it. The sacrificial formulae
[Yajurveda] were born from it.

From it the horses were born and all that have cutting teeth in both jaws. The
cows were born from it, also. From it were born goats and sheep.

When they divided Purusa, how many ways did they apportion him? What was
his mouth? What were his arms? What were his thighs, his feet declared to be?
His mouth was the Brahman [caste], his arms were the Rajanaya [Kshatriya
caste], his thighs the Vaishya [caste]; from his feet the Shudra [caste] was born.

The moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born; from his
mouth both Indra and Agni [fire]; from his breath Vayu [wind] was born.

From his navel arose the air; from his head the heaven evolved; from his feet the
earth; the [four] directions from his ear. Thus, they fashioned the worlds.

Seven were his altar sticks, three times seven were the kindling bundles, when
the gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the beast Purusa.

The gods sacrificed with the sacrifice to the sacrifice. These were the first rites.
These powers reached the firmament, where the ancient demi-gods and the
gods are.