The Mystery of Origins in the Nāsadīya Sukta and Related Hymns
The cosmogonic hymns of the Rig Veda explore the origin of the universe with remarkable depth. Unlike many ancient traditions, they do not present a fixed dogmatic narrative. They explore. They question. They doubt.
The most famous among them is the Nāsadīya Sukta (Rig Veda 10.129), often called the “Hymn of Non-Being.”
1. The Nāsadīya Sukta (RV 10.129)
It begins with a striking statement:
“Then there was neither being (sat) nor non-being (asat).”
There was no sky, no space, no death, no immortality.
Nothing that we now call reality yet existed.
A radical vision
The hymn does not describe a god crafting the world like an artisan.
It describes an undifferentiated state beyond categories.
Then a singular principle appears:
“That One (tad ekam) breathed, without breath, by its own power.”
This suggests a principle prior even to the gods.
The gods, the text says, came afterward.
The final doubt
The ending is extraordinary:
“He who looks down on it from the highest heaven, perhaps he knows…
or perhaps he does not.”
No imposed certainty.
No dogma.
This is one of the earliest known expressions of metaphysical doubt in human history.
2. The Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90)
Another major hymn is the Purusha Sukta.
It describes a primordial Cosmic Being whose sacrifice generates the universe.
From his mind comes the moon.
From his eye comes the sun.
From his breath comes the wind.
From his body comes human society.
Here cosmology and social order are linked.
The universe is not an accident; it is an organism.
3. The Hiranyagarbha Hymn (RV 10.121)
This hymn speaks of the “Golden Germ” (Hiranyagarbha), a luminous principle floating upon primordial waters.
It is called:
“The lord of what exists.”
Creation is described not as chaos but as gestation.
The world is born like a cosmic embryo.
4. A Non-Dogmatic Cosmogony
What distinguishes Vedic cosmogonic hymns:
- No single imposed narrative
- Multiple symbolic approaches
- Philosophical inquiry
- A principle preceding the gods
We find:
- a metaphysical vision (Nāsadīya),
- a sacrificial vision (Purusha),
- an embryonic vision (Hiranyagarbha).
These texts do not seek to convince.
They seek to understand.
Conclusion
The cosmogonic hymns of the Rig Veda are not simple religious myths.
They are meditations on origin, mystery, and the limits of knowledge.
They show that at the dawn of Vedic thought, human intelligence dared to face the unknown — without reducing it.
And perhaps that is their enduring power.
Le Rig Veda 
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