मनन Manana · ReflectStep 2 of 9
Nāsadīya Sūkta · Ṛgveda 10.129.1
Verse 1Neither being nor non-being
नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् ।
किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम् ॥
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat |
kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṃ gabhīram ||
Meaning
Then there was neither non-being nor being. There was no air, and no sky beyond it. What stirred? Where? In whose keeping? Was there water, fathomless and deep?
Word by word
Words joined in recitation are shown split. Where sounds change at the joins, the dictionary form is given under the word.
Reflection
The hymn begins by taking everything away, even non-being. Neither 'it was' nor 'it was not' can describe the beginning. Then the air goes, and the sky beyond it. What remains is a string of questions: what covered it, where, and in whose keeping? That last question carries a quiet hope that some power was watching over it, though the rishi does not claim to know. And the word for the deep water, ambhas, echoes amba, mother, as if even in the void the poet reaches for something warm.
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