404 ON THE VE'dAS, 



The tenth chapter closes with a hymn to night ; 

 and the eleventh begins with two hymns relative 

 to the creation of the world. Another, on this 

 subject was translated in a former essay * : it is the 

 last hymn, but one, in the Rigveda ; and the au- 

 thor of it is Ag'hamarshan'a (a son of Mad'- 

 huch'handas), from whom it takes the name by 

 which it is generally cited. The other hymns, of 

 which a version is here subjoined, are not ascribed 

 to any ascertained author. Praja'pati, surnamed 

 Paramhhfhi, and his son Yajnya, are stated as 

 the original speakers. But, of these names, one 

 is a title of the primeval spirit; and the other 

 seems to allude to the allegorical immolation of 

 Brahma. 



I. ' Then was there no entity, nor nonentity ; 

 no world, nor sky, nor ought above it : nothing, 

 any where, in the happiness of any one, involving 

 or involved : nor water, deep and dangerous. 

 Death was not ; nor then was immortality ; nor 

 distinction of day or night. But that ■\ breathed 

 without aflflation, single with (Sxoadlici) her who 

 is sustained within him. Other than him, nothing 

 existed, [which] since [has been]. Darkness there 

 was ; [for] this universe was enveloped with dark- 

 ness, and was undistinguishable [like fluids mixed 

 in] waters : but that mass, which was covered by 

 the husk, was [at length] produced by the power 



* j4sw//c Researches, Vol. V. p. 36l. 



t The pronoun (tad), tlius emphatically used, is undeislood 

 to intend the supreme being according to the doctrines of the 

 Veddnta. When manifested by creation, he is the entity (sat) ; 

 while forms, being mere illusion, are nonentity (asat). The 

 whole of this hymn is expounded according to the received doc- 

 trines of the Indian theology, or Veddnta. Darkness and desire 

 (Tamas and C6ma) bear a distant resemblance to the Chaos aud 

 Eros of Hesiod. Theog. v. ll6. 



