{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/av/av11008.htm","path":"hin/av/av11008.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av11008.htm","text":"Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895]\n1When Manyu brought his consort home forth from Sankalpa's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0dwelling-place,\n \u00a0\u00a0Who were the wooers of the bride, who was the chief who\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0courted her?\n 2Fervour and Action were the two, in depths of the great billowy\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sea?\n \u00a0\u00a0These were the wooers of the bride; Brahma the chief who\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0courted her.\n 3Ten Gods before the Gods were born together in the ancient\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0time.\n \u00a0\u00a0Whoso may know them face to face may now pronounce the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mighty word.\n 4Inbreath and outbreath, eye and ear, decay and freedom from.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0decay, p. 65\n \u00a0\u00a0Spiration upward and diffused, voice, mind have brought us\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0wish and plan.\n 5As yet the Seasons were unborn, and Dilator and Praj\u0101pati,\n \u00a0\u00a0Both Asvins, Indra, Agni. Whom then did they worship as\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0supreme?\n 6Fervour and Action were the two, in depths of the great billowy\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sea;\n \u00a0\u00a0Fervour sprang up from Action: this they served and worship-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ped as supreme.\n 7He may account himself well versed in ancient time who knows\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0by name.\n \u00a0\u00a0The earth that was before this earth, which only wisest Sages\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0know.\n 8From whom did Indra spring? from whom sprang Soma?\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0whence was Agni born?\n \u00a0\u00a0From whom did Tvashtar spring to life? and whence is Dilator's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0origin?\n 9Indra from Indra, Soma from Soma, Agni from Agni sprang\n \u00a0\u00a0Tvashtar from Tvashtar was produced, Dilator was Dh\u0101tar's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0origin.\n 10Those Gods who were of old, the Ten begotten earlier than the\n \u00a0\u00a0Gods,\n \u00a0\u00a0What world do they inhabit since they gave the world unto\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0their sons?\n 11When he had brought together hair, sinew and bone, marrow\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and flesh.\n \u00a0\u00a0And to the body added feet, then to what world did he depart?\n 12Whence, from what region did he bring the hair, the sinews, and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the bones,\n \u00a0\u00a0Marrow and limbs, and joints, and flesh? Who was the bringer,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and from whence?\n 13Casters, those Gods were called who brought together all the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0elements:\n \u00a0\u00a0When they had fused the mortal man complete, they entered\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0into him.\n 14The thighs, the knee-bones, and the feet, the head, the face,\n \u00a0\u00a0Land both the hands,\n \u00a0\u00a0The ribs, the nipples, and the sides\u2014what I ishi hath constructed\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that? p. 66\n 15Head, both the hands, and face, and tongue, and neck, and inter-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0coastal parts,\n \u00a0\u00a0All this, investing it with skins, Mahi conjoined with bond and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0tie.\n 16What time the might body lay firmly compact with tie and bond,\n \u00a0\u00a0Who gave its colour to the form, the hue wherewith it shines\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to-day?\n 17All Deities had lent their aid: of this a noble Dame took note,\n \u00a0\u00a0Ts\u0101, the Consort of Command. She gave its colour to the form.\n 18When Tvashtar, Tvashtar's loftier Sire, had bored it out and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0hollowed it.\n \u00a0\u00a0Gods made the mortal their abode, and entered and possessed\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the man.\n 19Sleep, specially, Sloth, Nirriti, and deities whose name is Sin,\n \u00a0\u00a0Baldness, old age, and hoary hairs within the body found their\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0way.\n 20Theft, evil-doing, and deceit, truth, sacrifice, exalted fame,\n \u00a0\u00a0Strength, princely power, and energy entered the body as a\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0home.\n 21Prosperity and poverty, kindnesses and malignities,\n \u00a0\u00a0Hunger and thirst of every kind entered the body as a home.\n 22Reproaches, freedom from reproach, all blamable, all blameless\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0deeds,\n \u00a0\u00a0Bounty, belief, and unbelief entered the body as a home.\n 23All knowledge and all ignorance, each other thing that one may\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0learn,\n \u00a0\u00a0Entered the body, prayer, and hymns, and songs, and sacrificial\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0texts.\n 24Enjoyments, pleasures, and delights, gladness, and rapturous\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ecstasies.\n \u00a0\u00a0Laughter and merriment and dance entered the body as a home.\n 25Discourse and conversation, and the shrill-resounding cries of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0woe,\n \u00a0\u00a0All entered in, the motives and the purposes combined there-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with.\n 26Inbreath and outbreath, ear and eye, decay and freedom from\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0decay.\n \u00a0\u00a0Breath upward and diffused, voice, mind, these quickly with the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0body move, p. 67\n 27All earnest wishes, all commands, directions, and admonish-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ments.\n \u00a0\u00a0Reflections, all deliberate plans entered the body as a home.\n 28They laid in the abhorrent frame those waters hidden, bright,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and thick,\n \u00a0\u00a0Which in the bowels spring from blood, from mourning or from\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0hasty toil.\n 29Fuel they turned to bone, and then they set light waters in the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0frame.\n \u00a0\u00a0The molten butter they made seed: then the Gods entered into\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0man.\n 30All Waters, all the Deities. Vir\u0101j with Brahma at her side:\n \u00a0\u00a0Brahma into the body passed: Praj\u0101pati is Lord thereof.\n 31The Sun and Wind formed, separate, the eye and vital breath of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0man.\n \u00a0\u00a0His other person have the Gods bestowed on Agni as a gift.\n 32Therefore whoever knoweth man regardeth him as Br\u0101hman's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0self:\n \u00a0\u00a0For all the Deities abide in him as cattle in their pen.\n 33At his first death he goeth hence, asunder, in three separate\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0parts.\n \u00a0\u00a0He goeth yonder with one part, with one he goeth yonder:\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0here he sinketh downward with a third.\n 34In the primeval waters cold the body is deposited.\n \u00a0\u00a0In this there is the power of growth: from this is power of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0growth declared.","title":"Atharva Veda: Book 11: Hymn 8: On the origin of some Gods and the creation of man","type":"page"}