梨俱吠陀

1 Not one of you, gods, is small, not one a little child; all of you are truly great. ^ 2 "'Therefore you are worthy of praise and of sacrifice, you thkty-three gods of Manu, arrogant and powerful. ^ Protect us, help us and speak for us ; do not lead us into the ^stance far away from the path of our father Manu. ^ You gods who are all here and who belong to all men, give far-reachmg shelter to us and to our cows and horses. CREATION The R/^ Veda refers glancingly to many different theories of creation. Several of these regard creation as the result - often apparently a mere by-product - of a cosmic battle, such as those mentioned in the hymns to Indra, or as a result of the apparendy immotivated act of separating heaven and earth, an act attributed to several different gods. These aspects of creation are woven m and out of the hymns m the older parts of the Rjg Veda, books a through 9 But in the subsequent tenth book we encounter for the first time hymns that are entirely devoted to speculations on the ongms of the cosmos. Some of these hymns seek the ongms of the existence of existence itself (10.129) or of the creator himself (10.121). Others speculate upon the sacrifice as the origin of the earth and the people m it (10.90), or upon the ongms of the sacrifice (10.130, 10.190). Sacrifice is central to many concepts of creation, particulady to those exphady linked to sacrificial gods or instruments, but it also appears as a supplement to other forms of creation such as sculpture (10.81-2) or anthropomorphic birth (10.72). 10.…