Creation, in the cosmogonic traditions preserved in the tenth Mandala of the Rigveda, refers to the emergence of existence, the gods, the worlds, and ordered life from a primordial state. Multiple hymns offer differing — and at times deliberately paradoxical — accounts of how the cosmos came into being, ranging from emergence out of non-existence, to the activity of a divine artisan, to the dismemberment of a cosmic being, to a sacrificial weaving of order.
The Primordial State
Several hymns describe a condition prior to the cosmos in which neither being nor non-being could be said to exist. The Nāsadīya hymn opens by declaring that "was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it," and asks "what covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?" (RV 10.129.1).
In this state, "Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider," and "That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever" (RV 10.129.2). The condition is further described as one in which "Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and formless" (RV 10.129.3).
Emergence from Non-Existence
Out of this undifferentiated state, existence itself is said to have arisen. The hymn to the Generations of the Gods declares that "Existence, in an earlier age of Gods, from Non-existence sprang" (RV 10.72.2), and again, "Existence, in the earliest age of Gods, from Non-existence sprang. Thereafter were the regions born. This sprang from the Productive Power" (RV 10.72.3).
The agent of this earliest production is identified in one passage as Brahmaṇaspati, who "produced with blast and smelting, like a Smith" (RV 10.72.2), framing the first act of creation as a kind of metallurgical labour.
The Nāsadīya attributes the first stirring of being to heat: "by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit" (RV 10.129.3). It then names Desire (kāma) as the first impulse: "Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent" (RV 10.129.4). A dividing line is then described: "Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder" (RV 10.129.5).
A parallel account in RV 10.190 traces creation to ascetic heat: "From Fervour kindled to its height Eternal Law and Truth were born: Thence was the Night produced, and thence the billowy flood of sea arose" (RV 10.190.1). From the sea "the Year was afterwards produced, Ordainer of the days nights, Lord over all who close the eye" (RV 10.190.2), after which "Dhatar, the great Creator, then formed in due order Sun and Moon. He formed in order Heaven and Earth, the regions of the air, and light" (RV 10.190.3).
The Generations of the Gods
The genealogy of the gods is set out in RV 10.72. From the Productive Power, "Earth sprang … the regions from the earth were born. Daksha was born of Aditi, and Aditi was Daksha's Child" (RV 10.72.4) — a mutual generation in which "For Aditi, O Daksha, she who is thy Daughter, was brought forth. After her were the blessed Gods born sharers of immortal life" (RV 10.72.5).
The hymn pictures the gods themselves stirring up matter through their motion: "When ye, O Gods, in yonder deep close-clasping one another stood, Thence, as of dancers, from your feet a thickening cloud of dust arose" (RV 10.72.6). It continues: "When, O ye Gods, like Yatis, ye caused all existing things to grow, Then ye brought Sûrya forward who was lying hidden in the sea" (RV 10.72.7).
Aditi is described as the mother of eight sons, of whom seven were brought to the gods while Mārtāṇḍa was at first cast away: "Eight are the Sons of Aditi who from her body sprang to life. With seven she went to meet the Gods she cast Mârtâṇḍa far away" (RV 10.72.8). She later restored him "to spring to life and die again" (RV 10.72.9), accounting for mortality.
Viṣvakarman, the Universal Artisan
A separate strand portrays creation as the work of a single all-seeing maker, Viṣvakarman ("All-Maker"). He is the "R̥ishi, our Father, offering up all things existing" (RV 10.81.1), who, "seeing all, producing the earth, with mighty power disclosed the heavens" (RV 10.81.2).
He is described in pan-sensory terms: "He who hath eyes on all sides round about him, a mouth on all sides, arms and feet on all sides, He, the Sole God, producing earth and heaven, weldeth them, with his arms as wings, together" (RV 10.81.3). The hymn poses an unanswered question about his materials: "What was the tree, what wood in sooth produced it, from which they fashioned out the earth and heaven?" (RV 10.81.4).
Viṣvakarman is further celebrated as "Mighty in mind and power … Maker, Disposer, and most lofty Presence" (RV 10.82.2), the "Father who made us … the Deities' name-giver" (RV 10.82.3). His creation is described as both extensive and watery in origin: "The Father of the eye, the Wise in spirit, created both these worlds submerged in fatness" (RV 10.82.1).
The Primeval Waters and the Germ
Several passages locate the origin of life in a cosmic ocean containing a primal embryo or germ. RV 10.82 asks of "That which is earlier than this earth and heaven, before the Asuras and Gods had being,– What was the germ primeval which the waters received where all the Gods were seen together?" (RV 10.82.5). It answers: "The waters, they received that germ primeval wherein the Gods were gathered all together. It rested set upon the Unborn's navel, that One wherein abide all things existing" (RV 10.82.6).
The Sacrifice of Puruṣa
The Puruṣasūkta (RV 10.90) gives perhaps the most influential account, in which the cosmos is produced through the sacrificial dismemberment of a primal cosmic Person. Puruṣa is described as having "a thousand heads … a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide" (RV 10.90.1) and as encompassing time itself: "all that yet hath been and all that is to be" (RV 10.90.2). "All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven" (RV 10.90.3).
From Puruṣa was born Virāj, and from Virāj, Puruṣa again (RV 10.90.5). The gods then performed a great sacrifice in which Puruṣa was the offering: "Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood" (RV 10.90.6), and "With him the Deities and all Sâdhyas and R̥ishis sacrificed" (RV 10.90.7).
From this sacrifice arose the animal kingdom — "the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame" (RV 10.90.8) — together with horses, cattle, goats, and sheep (RV 10.90.10). The Vedas themselves issued forth: "From that great general sacrifice R̥ichas and Sâma-hymns were born: Therefrom were spells and charms produced; the Yajus had its birth from it" (RV 10.90.9).
The division of Puruṣa also produced the four social classes: "The Brâhman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Râjanya made. His thighs became the Vaiṣya, from his feet the Ṣûdra was produced" (RV 10.90.12). The cosmic features followed in turn: "The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth; Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vâyu from his breath" (RV 10.90.13); "Forth from his navel came mid-air the sky was fashioned from his head Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed the worlds" (RV 10.90.14). The hymn concludes that "these were the earliest holy ordinances" (RV 10.90.16).
Creation as Sacrifice and Weaving
RV 10.130 interprets creation as a sacrificial fabric: "The sacrifice drawn out with threads on every side, stretched by a hundred sacred ministers and one" (RV 10.130.1), where "The Man extends it and the Man unbinds it: even to this vault of heaven hath he outspun it" (RV 10.130.2). The Sāma-hymns served as weaving shuttles (RV 10.130.2), and metres were paired with the gods: Gāyatrī with Agni, Triṣṭup with Indra, Jagatī with all the gods (RV 10.130.4–5). "So by this knowledge men were raised to R̥ishis, when ancient sacrifice sprang up, our Fathers" (RV 10.130.6).
The Limits of Knowledge
A recurring theme is uncertainty about creation's ultimate source. RV 10.82 warns: "Ye will not find him who produced these creatures: another thing hath risen up among you. Enwrapt in misty cloud, with lips that stammer, hymn-chanters wander and are discontented" (RV 10.82.7).
The Nāsadīya closes with the most famous expression of this doubt: "Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?" (RV 10.129.6). And finally: "He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not" (RV 10.129.7).
A Condensed Creation Myth
1. The Unfathomed. Before all, neither being nor non-being, neither death nor day — only darkness in darkness, a formless deep where the One breathed, breathless, by its own power.
2. Heat and Desire. Fervour kindled in the deep, and by its warmth the One stirred. Desire arose, the first seed of mind, and with it Law, Truth, Night, and the billowy sea.
3. The One Act, Many-Named. Then the One set about its work — and the seers, unable to seize it in a single image, sang it under many names.
- As Brahmaṇaspati the Smith, it blew and smelted being out of non-being at the forge.
- As the Germ upon the Waters, it rested on the navel of the Unborn, holding all things in itself.
- As Viśvakarman the All-Maker — eyed, mouthed, armed on every side — it welded heaven and earth together with its wings, and named the gods.
- As Dhātar the Ordainer, it set Sun and Moon, Heaven and Earth, the regions and the light, each in its place.
- As Puruṣa the Cosmic Person, it offered itself in sacrifice: its mind became the Moon, its eye the Sun, its breath the Wind, its mouth Indra and Agni; its head the sky, its navel mid-air, its feet the earth; and from its mouth, arms, thighs, and feet came the four orders of men. From this same offering issued the Vedas and every living creature.
Smith, Germ, Artisan, Ordainer, Victim — one act, sung five ways.
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