Indian Hotel & Resort News

In the following cosmogonic poem [x. 129] the origin of the world is explained as the evolution of the existent (sát) from the non-existent (ásat). Water thus came into being first; from it was evolved intelligence by heat. It is the starting-point of the natural philosophy which developed into the Sāṅkhya system.

x. 129. Metre: Triṣṭubh

१ नासदासीन् नो सदासीत् तदानीं

नासीद् रजो नो व्योमापरो यत्

किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः

किमासीद् गहनं गभीरम्

nāsadāsīn, no sadāsīt tadānīṃ,

nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo ya.

kimāvarīvaḥ? kuha? kasya śarman?

nambhaḥ kimāsīd, gahanaṃ gabhīram?

Cf. [çb. x. 5, 3, 1: ná‿iva v idám ágré ‘sad āsīd ná‿iva sád āsīt] tadnīm: before the creation. āsīt: the usual form of the 3. s. ipf. of ⎷as be; the rarer form occurs in 3^b nó: for ná u (24). víomā: the final vowel metrically lengthened (cp. p. 440, 4 B). parás: adv.; on the accent cp. note on ii. 35, 6 c.  avarīvar: 3. s. ipf. int. of ⎷v cover (cp. 173, 3); kim: here as an inter, pel. (p. 225). ámbhas: cp. 3^b, and ts., [po v idám ágre salilám āsīt]

२ न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि

न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः

आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन् न परः किं चनास

na mṛtyurāsīd, amṛtaṃ na tarhi.

na rātriā ahna āsītpraketaḥ.

ānīdavātaṃ svadhayā tadekaṃ. tasmāddhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa

rtryas: gen. of ratrī (p. 87). áhnas: gen. of áhan (91, 2). nīt: 3. s. ipf. of ⎷an breathe (p. 143, 3 a). tásmād: governed by anyád (p. 317, 3). dha for ha: 54. anyán ná : 33. parás: cp. note on 1 b. āsa: pf. of ⎷as be (135, 2).

३ तम आसीत् तमसा गूऌअमग्रे

ऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमाइदम्

तुछ्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत् तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम्

tama āsīt tamasā gūḷamagre;

apraketaṃ salilaṃ sarvamā idam.

tuchyenābhvapihitaṃ yadāsīt tapasastanmahinājāyataikam

gūhám: pp. of ⎷guh hide (69 c, cp. 3 b y, p. 3 and 13). ās: 3.s ipf. of ⎷as be (p. 142, 2 6); this form is also found twice (i. 85, 1. 7) alternating with āsīt. „b” is a Jagati intruding in a Triṣṭubh stanza (cp. p. 445, f. n. 7). ābhú: the meaning of this word is illustrated by ā-babhuva in 6 d and 7 a. mahin = mahimn (90, 2, p. 69).

४ कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि

मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यदासीत्

सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन्

हृदि प्रतीष्याकवयो मनीषा

kāmastadagre samavartatādhi,

manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt.

sato bandhumasati niravindan

hṛdi pratīṣyākavayo manīṣā.

ádhi sám avartata: S³Ā ipf. of ⎷vt turn, with sám come into being; ádhi upon transitive mg. tád that = tád ékam in 2 c, the unevolved universe. One of the two prps. here is placed after the vb. (cp. 191 f, and p. 468, 20 A a). yád: referring to kámas is attracted in gender to the predicate n. rétas. satás: they found the origin of the evolved world in the unevolved. prati-íṣyā: the gd. in -ya has often a long final vowel (164, 1) which is always short in the Padapāṭha. ma-nīsa : inst. of f. in °ā (p. 77).

५ तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः स्विदासी3 त्

रेतोधाआसन् महिमान आसन्

स्वधा अवस्तात् प्रयतिः परस्तात्

tiraścīno vitato raśmireṣām:

adhaḥ svidāsī3t, upari svid āsī3t?

retodhāāsan mahimāna āsan;

svadhā avastāt, prayatiḥ parastāt.

raçmís: the meaning of this word here is uncertain, but it may be an explanation of bándhu in 4^c: the cord with which the sages (referred to by eṣām) in thought measured out the distance between the existent and non-existent, or between what was above and below; cp. viii. 25, 18, pari yó raçmína divó ántān mamé pthivyḥ who with a cord has measured out the ends of heaven and earth; cp. also the expression straṃ vítatam (in AV. x. 8, 37) the extended string with reference to the earth. āsīt: accented because in an antithetical sentence (p. 468, 19 B /3). The ī is prolated, and that syllable (and not ā) has the Udātta, as in the final syllable of a sentence in questions (Pāṇini viii. 2, 97); the second question upári svid āsī3t is quoted by Pāṇini (viii. 2,102) as coming under this rule, but without accent. retodhs and mahimnas are contrasted as male and female cosmogonic principles, to which correspond respectively prá-yatis and svadha. In TS. iv. 3, 11, 1, mention is made of tráyo mahimnaḥ connected with fertility. svadh: this is one of the 5 examples of a N. f. in °ā left uncontracted with a following vowel: it is probable that the editors of the Saṃhitā text treated these forms as ending in āḥ, while the Padapātha gives them without Visarjanīya, doubtless owing to the greatly increasing prevalence of the nominatives in °ā.

६ को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत्

कुत आजाता कुत इयंविसृष्टिः

अर्वाग् देवा अस्य विसर्जनेना-
था को वेद यतआबभूव

ko addhā veda? ka iha pra vocat,

kuta ājātā, kuta iyaṃvisṛṣṭiḥ?

arvāg devā asya visarjanen:

āthā ko veda yataābabhūva?

vocat: a-ao. inj. of ⎷vac. kutás: b has one syllable too many (p. 441, 4 a). arvk: the sense is that the gods, being part of the creation, are later than the period preceding the creation, and therefore can know nothing of the origin of the universe. áthā: with metrically lengthened final vowel (p. 440, 4; cp. 179, 1).

७ इयं विसृष्टिर्यत आबभूव

यदि वा दधे यदि वा न

यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन्

सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा नवेद

iyaṃ visṛṣṭiryata ābabhūva;

yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na:

yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman

so aṅga veda, yadi vā naveda.

^a and ^b are dependent on veda in ^d. asya: of this universe, ^b is defective by two syllables (p. 440, 4 a): possibly a metrical pause expressive of doubt may have been intended. vyòman: Loc. (90, 2). véda: the accent is due to the formal influence of yádi (p. 246,3 a).