HYMN OF CREATION                      
1. Non‑being then existed not nor being:
There was no air, nor sky that is beyond it.
What was concealed? Wherein? In whose protection?
And was there deep unfathomable water?
2. Death then existed not nor life immortal;
Of neither night nor day was any token.
By its inherent force the One breathed windless:
No other thing than that beyond existed.
3. Darkness there was at first by darkness hidden
Without distinctive marks, this all was water.
That which, becoming, by the void was covered,
That One by force of heat came into being.
4. Desire entered the One in the beginning:
It was the earliest seed, of thought the product.
The sages searching in their hearts with wisdom,
Found out the bond of being in non‑being.
5. Their ray extended light across the darkness:
But was the One above or was it under?
Creative force was there, and fertile power
Below was energy, above was impulse.
6. Who knows for certain? Who shall here declare it?
Whence was it born, and whence came this creation?
The gods were born after this world's creation:
Then who can know from whence it has arisen?
7. None knoweth whence creation has  arisen; and whether he has or has not produced it: He who surveys it in the highest heaven, He only knows, or haply he may know not.

To PRAJAPATI1 [Hymn to the Unknown God]
1. As the Golden Germ he arose in the beginning; when born he was the one Lord of the existent. He supported the earth and this heaven. What God with our oblation shall we worship?
2. He who gives breath, who gives strength, whose command all the Gods wait upon, whose shadow is immortality, is death­ what God with our oblation shall we worship?
3. Who through his greatness over that which breathes and closes the eyes is only. King of the world, who is Lord of the two‑footed and four‑footed‑what God with our oblation shall we wor­ship?
4. Whose are the snowy mountains through his greatness, whose, as they say, are the ocean and the Rasa, 2 whose are the regions, whose the arms3‑what God with our oblation shall we wor­ship?
5. Through whom the mighty heaven and the earth have been fixed, through whom the sun has been established, through whom the firmament; who in the middle sky measures out the air‑what God with our oblation shall we worship?
6. To whom the two realms (heaven and earth), sustained by his aid, looked up, trembling in spirit, over whom the risen sun shines‑what God with our oblation shall we worship?
7. When the great waters came, bearing all as the Germ, and generating fire (Agni), then arose the one life‑spirit of the Gods ­what God with our oblation shall we worship?
8. Who through his greatness beheld the waters, that bore power and generated the sacrifice, who was the one God above the Gods‑what God with our oblation shall we worship?
9. May he not injure us, who is the generator of the earth, he of true ordinances, who produced the heaven, who produced the shining mighty waters.
10. O Prajapati, none other than thou has encompassed all these created things (1) May that for which we desiring have invoked thee be ours. May we become lords of wealth.

1 Lord of creation or of creatures.
2 A mythical river surrounding the world.
3 Perhaps the all‑embracing arms of Prajapati. Sayaga understands the four quarters, and by the regions the intermediate quarters.

COSMIC LAW or ORDER, RIGHT, TRUTH‑RTA

One of the special forms in which the doctrine of the unity of reality appeared was in the recognition of a universal anal eternal law, Rta. Rta represents the law, unity, or rightness underlying the orderliness of the universe.
There are no hymns addressed specifically to 1Rta, but brief references to the important concept are found repeatedly in hymns to Varuna, the dispenser of the law, Agni, Vi'svedevas, etc.

To INDRA   
8. Eternal Law [Rta] hath varied food that strengthens; thought of eternal law removes transgressions.
The praise‑hymn of eternal law, arousing, glowing, hath opted the deaf ears of the living.
9. Firm‑seated are eternal law's foundations; in its fair form are many splendid beauties.
By holy law long lasting food they bring us; by holy law have cows come to our worship.
10. Fixing eternal law he [Indra], too, upholds it: swift moves the might of law and wins the booty.
To law belong the vast deep earth and heaven: milch‑kine supreme, to law their milk they render.

CREATION          
1. From fervour kindled to its height Eternal Law and Truth were born
Thence was the night produced, and thence the billowy flood of sea arose.
2. From that same billowy flood of sea the year was afterwards produced,
Ordained of the days nights [sic], Lord over all who close the eye.
3. Dhatar, the great creator, then formed in due order sun and moon.
He formed in order heaven and earth, the regions of the air, and light.

1 Ludwig interprets this hymn to mean essentially: "what other God than Prajapati shall we worship?"
2 This term could refer to the devotional ardor or asceticism of Brahman or "warmth."

To VAYU
8. Mitra and Varuna, through Law, lovers and cherishers of Law,
Have ye obtained your mighty power.

To VISVEDEVAS     
12. Firm is this new‑wrought hymn of praise, and meet to be told forth, O gods.
The flowing of the floods is Law, Truth is the sun's extended light. Mark this my woe, ye earth and heaven.
16. That pathway of the sun in heaven, made to be highly glorified,
Is not to be transgressed, O gods. O mortals, ye behold it not. Mark this my woe, ye earth and heaven.

To AGNI                 
11. With reverence I declare the law, O Agni; what is, comes by thine order, Ja.tavedas [Agni].

To BRAHMANASPATI [lord of priests]   
15. Brhaspati, that which the foe deserves not, which shines among the folk effectual, splendid,
That, Son of Law! which is with might refulgent‑that treasure wonderful bestow thou on us.

To INDRA   
1. May Indra come to us for our protection; here be the Hero            
       praised, our feast‑companion.
       May he whose powers are many, waxen mighty, cherish, like
       Dyaus, his own supreme dominion.
2. Here magnify his great heroic exploits, most glorious one,
       enriching men with bounties,
       Whose will is like a sovran in assembly, who rules the people,
       conqueror, all‑surpassing.
3. Hither let Indra come from earth or heaven, hither with speech  
       from firmament or ocean;
       With Maruts, from the realm of light to aid us, or from a
       distance, from the seat of Order.  

To USAS [Dawn]  
6 . . . .The far‑refulgent mornings make apparent the lovely trea­sures which the darkness covered.
7. The one departeth and the other cometh; Unlike in hue day's halves march on successive.
One hides the gloom of the surrounding parents. Dawn on her shining chariot is resplendent.
8. The same in form to‑day, the same to‑morrow, they still keep Varuna's eternal statute .. . .
9. . . .The. maiden breaketh not the law of Order, day by day coming to the place appointed.
13. Obedient to the rein [sic] of Law Eternal give us each thought that more and more shall bless us ...  

To APRIS
7. I catch hold of the two divine Hotrs first'. The seven strong ones rejoice according to their wont. Teaching the right, they proclaim the right, the guardians of law, contemplating the law.

To VARUNA         
4. He made them flow, the Aditya, the Sustainer: the rivers run by Varuna's commandment.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND SOCIAL PRACTICES

Rta, the law or order of the world‑literally "the course of things provides the standard of morality. As seen in the preceding section, Rta represents the orderliness and eternal Law of the universe. Here, Rta stands for the same principle in human conduct. Orderly and consistent conduct is the essential feature of the good life. Disorder, often repre­sented in the form of falsehood, is the greatest evil. Virtue is conformity to the cosmic law. (IRta also serves as the origin of the basic ethical concept  of dharma in later Indian philosophy.) Love of fellowmen, kindness to all, and obedience to our duties to the gods and to men are enjoined. Asceticism, fasting, and abstinence are not unknown to the Rg Veda, but asceticism is not the dominant note

1 The Apris are the divine or deified beings and objects to which the propitiatory'verses are addressed. The Hogs are Agni and perhaps Varuna.

 

To INDRA‑SOMA      
8. Whoso accuses me with words of falsehood when I pursue my way with guileless spirit,
May he, the speaker of untruth, be, Indra, like water which the f
hollowed hand compresses.    
9. Those who destroy, as is their wont, the simple, and with their
evil natures harm the righteous,'
May Soma give them over to the serpent, or to the lap of Nirrti 1 consign them.
10. The fiend, O Agni, who designs to injure the essence of our food, kine, steeds, or bodies,
May he, the adversary, thief, and robber, sink to destruction, both himself and offspring.
11. May he be swept away, himself and children: may all the three earths press him down beneath them.
May his fair glory, O ye gods, be blighted, who in the day or night would fain destroy us.
12. The prudent finds it easy to distinguish the true and false: their words oppose each other.
Of these two that which is the true and honest, Soma protects,,
and brings the false to nothing.
13. Never doth Soma aid and guide the wicked or him who falsely claims the warrior's title.
He slays the fiend and him who speaks untruly: both lie en­tangled in the noose of Indra.

To Soma Pavamana  [Self-Purifying Soma}

4. Splendid by Law! declaring Law; truth‑speaking, truthful in thy works,
Enouncing faith, king Soma!. . .

To Apas [Waters]
3. All‑purifying, joYing in their nature, to paths of gods the god­desses move onward.
They never violate the laws of Indra:. . .

To Varuna          
5. Loose me from sin as from a band that binds me: may we swell, Varuna, thy spring of Order ....

To Vayu and Others      
22. Whatever sin is found in me, whatever evil I have wrought,
If I have lied or falsely sworn, Waters, remove it far from me.

T o  Agni
5. They who roam about like brotherless girls, of evil conduct like
women who deceive their husbands, being wicked, sinful, and untrue‑they have created for themselves this deep place.

To Varuna          
7. What sin we have ever committed against an intimate, O Varuna,
    against a friend or companion at any time, a brother, a neigh­
    bour, or a stranger, that, O Varuna, loose from us.               
8.     If like gamblers at play we have cheated, whether in truth or without knowing, all that loose_from us, O God. So may we be dear to thee, O Varuna.

To Dana [charity or liberality]           
1. The gods inflict not hunger as a means to kill: Death frequently befalls even satiated men. The charitable giver's wealth melts not away; The niggard never finds a man to pity him.
2. Who, of abundant food possessed, makes hard his heart
    Towards a needy and decrepit suppliant
    Whom once he courted, come to pray to him for bread:
    A man like this as well finds none to pity him.
3. He is the liberal man who helps the beggar That, craving food, emaciated wanders, And coming to his aid, when asked to succour, Immediately makes him a friend hereafter.

To Savitr [Heaven]
6. Three heavens there are; two Savitar's, adjacent: in Yama's world is one, the home of heroes.
As on a linch‑pin, firm, rest things immortal: he who hath known it, let him here declare it.

To Mama [Ruler of the realm of departed spirits]      
1. Him who has past along the mighty ridges,
And has spied out the path for many travellers, 
Vivasvant's son, the gatherer of people,
Yama, the king, do thou present with offering.
2. For us has Yama first found out the pathway:
This pasture never can be taken from us.
To where have passed away our former fathers,
The later born by their own paths have travelled.
4. Upon this sacred grass sit down, O Yama,
Uniting with the Angiras, our fathers.
Let spells recited by the sages bring thee;
Do thou, O king, rejoice in this oblation.
5. Come hither with the Ahgiras, the holy:
Here with Virupa's sons, O Yama revel,
Vivasvant I invoke, who is thy father,
When at this rite upon the straw he's seated.
6. The Angiras, our fathers, the Navagvas,
The Bhrgus and Atharvans,l soma‑loving:
May we abide for ever in the favour
And the good graces of those holy sages.
7. Depart, depart, along those ancient pathways,
On which have passed away our former fathers:
There thou shalt see rejoicing in libations
The two kings, Varuna the god and Yama.
8. Unite thou with the Fathers and with Yama,
With thy good works' reward in highest heaven.
To home return, all imperfection leaving.
Unite with thine own body, full of vigour.
9. Begone, depart from here, disperse and scatter:
For him the Fathers have prepared'. this dwelling.
Yama bestows on him this place to rest in, A place by waters, days and nights distinguished.
10.    Run on thy path straight forward, past the two dogs, The sons of Saram‑a, four‑eyed and brindled. Draw near thereafter to the bounteous Fathers, Who revel on in company with Yama.
11.    O King, to those two this dead man deliver, The two that are thy guardian dogs, O Yama, Four‑eyed, observing men, the pathway watching. Bestow upon the dead man health and welfare.
12.    Broad‑nosed and brown the messengers of Yama, Greedy of lives they rove among the people. May they give back to us a life propitious Here and to‑day, that we may see the sunlight.
13. For Yama press the soma juice,
      To Yama offering present.
      To Yama goes the sacrifice,
      Announced by Agni, well‑prepared.
14.    To Yama offering rich in ghee Present forthwith, and forward step. Let him direct us to the gods, That we may live a life prolonged.

15.To Yama as a King present Oblation very honey‑sweet. This homage is for seers of old, The ancient makers of the path.

1 Three priestly families of ancient times.

To Maruts    
4.    If, O ye Maruts, ye the sons whom Prsni bare, were mortal, and Immortal he who sings your praise,
5. Then never were your praiser loathed like a wild beast in pasture‑land,
Nor should he go on Yama's path.

To Visnu  
5. May I attain to that his dear place, where men devoted to the Gods are exulting; for that verily is akin to the wide‑stepper, in the highest step of Visnu a well of sweetness.

1 The words for father and mother in the original are pet names