Sukta 72

Mantra 1

देवानां नु वयं जाना प्र वोचाम विपन्यया । उक्थेषु शस्यमानेषु यः पश्यादुत्तरे युगे ॥

Now we would declare the births and workings of the Gods with a luminous and discerning speech; in the hymns that are being voiced, he truly sees who can behold in the later age—beyond the first formations.

Mantra 2

ब्रह्मणस्पतिरेता सं कर्मार इवाधमत् । देवानां पूर्व्ये युगेऽसतः सदजायत ॥

Brahmaṇaspati, like a master-smith, blew these forms together into coherence; in the first age of the Gods, Being was born out of Non-being—order emerging from the unshaped.

Mantra 3

देवानां युगे प्रथमेऽसतः सदजायत । तदाशा अन्वजायन्त तदुत्तानपदस्परि ॥

In the first cycle of the Gods, Being arose out of the unmanifest; then the directions of aspiration came into birth, and with them the wide-stepping foundations around which the world could stand.

Mantra 4

भूर्जज्ञ उत्तानपदो भुव आशा अजायन्त । अदितेर्दक्षो अजायत दक्षाद्वदितिः परि ॥

Earth was born with the wide-stepping bases; the mid-world came forth and the directions of aspiration were born. From Aditi arose Dakṣa (the forming intelligence), and from Dakṣa again Aditi—Infinity circling back from its own power of right formation.

Mantra 5

अदितिर्ह्यजनिष्ट दक्ष या दुहिता तव । तां देवा अन्वजायन्त भद्रा अमृतबन्धवः ॥

For Aditi indeed was born from you, O Dakṣa, as your daughter; and after her the Gods were born—benign powers bound to immortality, children of the infinite wideness.

Mantra 6

यद्देवा अदः सलिले सुसंरब्धा अतिष्ठत । अत्रा वो नृत्यतामिव तीव्रो रेणुरपायत ॥

When the Gods stood there upon the waters, gathered and intent, then—like dancers in a concentrated rite—your sharp dust of obscurity was driven away: the covering shook loose before the awakened movement.

Mantra 7

यद्देवा यतयो यथा भुवनान्यपिन्वत । अत्रा समुद्र आ गूळ्हमा सूर्यमजभर्तन ॥

When the Gods, as disciplined seekers, filled out the worlds, then in the ocean they brought forth the Sun that was hidden—the light recovered from concealment within the vast depths.

Mantra 8

अष्टौ पुत्रासो अदितेर्ये जातास्तन्वस्परि । देवाँ उप प्रैत्सप्तभिः परा मार्ताण्डमास्यत् ॥

Eight were the sons of Aditi born from her body: with seven she approached the Gods, but the eighth—Mārtāṇḍa—she cast away, the still-mortal formation not yet fit for the divine assembly.

Mantra 9

सप्तभिः पुत्रैरदितिरुप प्रैत्पूर्व्यं युगम् । प्रजायै मृत्यवे त्वत्पुनर्मार्ताण्डमाभरत् ॥

With seven sons Aditi went forward to the primal cycle; but again she brought Mārtāṇḍa back—toward birth and toward death: the mortal element returns to be worked out in embodiment until it can be remade.