What is the significance of rig veda hymn 90

Only two bodies of hymns are recognized as divinely composed. They are of paramount and equal authority to Sri Vaishnavas. SmRti is that which is remembered, and includes a large part of the commentary of the Vedas, different Puranas, epics, and other sources. The Purusha Suktam is seen earliest in the Rg Veda, as the 90th Suktam of its 10th mandalam, with 16 mantrams. Saunaka, Apastamba, and Bodhayana have also written concerning the use of the Purusha Suktam.

He was the source of all creation. It describes this form of his, as having countless heads, eyes, legs, manifested everywhere, and beyond the scope of any limited method of comprehension. All creation is but a fourth part of him.

The rest is unmanifested. Your senses, the devas, shall be the ritviks. Your body shall be the havis. Your heart, the altar. And I shall be he who enjoys the havis -- the offering. From your body sacrificed, shall you create bodies for all living creatures, as you have done in kalpas before this. The act of creation itself grew out of yajna, the rite of sacrifice.

Who was worshipped at this sacrifice? It was the Purusha. Swami Madhavananda. Minor Upanishads. Advaita Ashrama. These Rishis were not human but divine Rishis like Saptarshis created directly by Virat. Virat was born the Horses, and all those animals who has teeth in both jaws, Virat was born the Cows, and from Him was born all types of Goats.

Virat hold within Him? How many parts were assigned in His Huge Form? What was His Arms? What was His Thighs? And what was His Feet? Peace Invocation Om taccham yoravrini mahe ghatun yajnaya ghatun yajnapataye daivi svastirastu naha svastir manushebhyaha urdhvam jigatu bheshajam sham no astu dvipade sham chatushpade Om shantih shantih shantihi We worship and pray to the Supreme Lord for the welfare of all beings. May all miseries and shortcomings leave us forever so that we may always sing for the Lord during the holy fire ceremonies.

May all medicinal herbs grow in potency so that all diseases may be cured. May the gods rain peace on us. May all the two- legged creatures be happy, and may all the four-legged creatures also be happy. May there be peace in the hearts of all beings in all realms. Text One Om sahasra shirsha purushaha sahasrakshas sahasrapat sa bhumim vishvato vritva atyatishthad dhashangulam The Purusha the Supreme Being has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet.

He has enveloped this world from all sides and has even transcended it by ten angulas or inches. Text Two purusha evedagam sarvam yadbhutam yaccha bhavyam utamritatva syeshanaha yadanne natirohati All this is verily the Purusha.

All that which existed in the past or will come into being in the future is also the Purusha. Also, he is the Lord of immortality. That which grows profusely by food is also the Purusha. Text Three etavanasya mahima ato jyayagamshcha purushaha padosya vishva bhutani tripadasya mritam divi So much is His greatness.

However, the Purusha is greater than this. All the beings form only a quarter part of Him. The three-quarter part of His, which is eternal, is established in the spiritual domain.

Text Four tripadurdhva udaitpurushaha padosyeha bhavatpunaha tato vishvajya kramat sashana ashane abhi The Purusha with the three-quarters of His energy ascended above the spiritual energy. His one quarter of material energy becomes this creation again and again.

Then He pervades this universe comprising a variety of sentient beings and insentient objects. Text Five tasmad viradajayata virajo adhi purushah sa jato atyarichyata pashchad bhumimatho puraha From Him the Adipurusha or original Supreme Being was born the Virat or Virat Purusha, the immense universal form.

Making this Virat as the substratum another purusha or being, Brahma was born. As soon as he was born, he multiplied himself. Later, he created this earth and then, the bodies of the living beings. Text Six yatpurushena havisha deva yajnam atanvata vasanto asyasidajyam grishma idhmash sharaddhavihi When the devas the demigods or beings of light performed a yajna or sacrificial ritual , using the Purusha as the havis sacrificial material for the yajna ritual , the Vasanta spring became the ajya ghee , the Grishma summer served as idhma pieces of wood and the sharad autumn filled the place of havis oblatory material like the purodasha or rice-cake.

Text Seven saptasyasan paridhayaha trissapta samidhah kritaha deva yadjajnam tanvanaha abadhnan purusham pashum For this yajna or spiritual ceremony there were seven paridhis fuel pieces serving as borders. And, twenty-one items were made the samit or sacrificial fuel sticks. When the devas were performing this yajna or ceremony, they tied the purusha himself as the pashu sacrificial animal. Text Eight tam yajnam barhishipraukshan purusham jatamagrataha tena deva ayajantaha sadhya rishayashchaye The devas, the sadhyas and the rishis performed the sacrifice by using that Purusha as the means of yajna, the Purusha who had been born in the beginning, after sprinkling him with water by the barhis or sacrificial grass.

Text Nine tasmad yajnat sarvahutaha sambhritam vrishadajyam pashugamstya gashchakre vayavyan aranyan gramashcaye From that yajna or sacrificial ritual wherein the Cosmic Being was Himself the oblation, was produced the prasajya or curds mixed with ghee.

Birds flying in the air, wild animals of the forest as also the domesticated animals of the villages were also produced. Text Ten tasmad yajnat sarvahutaha richassamani jijignire chandhagamsi jijignire tasmat yajus tasmad ajayata From that yajna or sacrifice wherein the Cosmic Being was Himself the oblation, were born the riks the mantras of the Rig-veda and the samans the mantras of the Sama-veda.

From that yajna the metres like Gayatri were born. From that yajna again the yujas the Yajur-veda was born. Text Eleven tasmadashva ajayata ye ke cobhaya dataha gavo ha jijignire tasmat tasmad jnata ajavayaha From that were born the horses, as also animals like donkeys and mules which have two rows of teeth. From that were born the cattle. From that again were born goats and sheep.

Text Twelve yatpurusham vyadadhuhu kadhita vyakalpayan mukham kimasya kau bahu kavuru padavuchayate Now some questions are raised by the sages: When the gods decided to mentally sacrifice the Viratpurusha and produce further creation , in how many ways did they do it?

What became of his face or mouth? What became of his two arms? What became of His two thighs? What were the products of the two feet called? Text Thirteen brahmanosya mukhamasit bahu rajanyah kritaha uru tadasya yadvaishyaha padhyagam shudro ajayata From His face or the mouth came the brahmanas.

From His two arms came the rajanya the kshatriyas. From His two thighs came the vaishyas. From His two feet came the shudras. Text Fourteen chandrama manaso jataha chakshoh suryo ajayata mukhad indrash chagnishcha pranadvayur ajayata From His mind was born the moon.

From His two eyes was born the sun. From His mouth were born Indra and Agni. From His breath was born the air. Text Fifteen nabhya asidanta riksham shirshno dyauh samavartata padhyam bhumirdishash shrotrat tada lokagamm akalpayan From His navel was produced the antariksha the space between the earth and the heavens. Dyuloka or heaven came into existence from His head.

The bhumi the earth evolved out of His feet, and deek or spacial directions from His ears. Similarly the demigods produced the worlds too. Indra who knows all the four quarters also spoke about Him. Among Puranic texts, the sukta has also been elaborated in the Bhagavata Purana 2. The myth of creation in Rigveda Cosmogony or the question of the origins of the universe has always been of interest to Indian mind and there exists a bewildering variety of speculation and theories on this theme.

The cosmogonic myths are the foundations of all myths. There is a very reliable translation in English by Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith , with an excellent introduction to the Rigveda in general, and a scholarly explanation of the key terms in the footnotes.

His rendition of the Rigveda was so well established that it was taken as the basis for the modern Indian edition of it in and The advantage of this text is that the translation is very readable. He has avoided the use of Sanskrit technical terms in the translation which certainly makes the text appealing to the English speaking people who are not familiar with Sanskrit. In addition, it has a good interpretative introduction and scholarly explanatory notes on key concepts.

A translation of the Rigveda in English, edited by Nicol Macnicol can be considered as a standard one. The text has a scholarly introduction to the Rigveda in general, and a useful footnote on the concept Purusa.

Hindu Scriptures. Dent and Sons, , xiv-xvi, Selected song-poems of the Rig Veda, selected and translated by John. Chethimattam and Antonio T. One gets the impression that the text has been over simplified, though some key Sanskrit terms are retained. It has no specific introduction or explanatory notes.

Hence this text may not of be of much value for a scholar. It has useful but brief footnotes. The author gives scholarly critical comments and explanations on the hymn on pages But he has placed the text of book in the appendix Anhang of the Rigveda as it is a later interpolation.

In his introduction to the text he furnishes good arguments to show why the text is to be considered as an interpolation. Brockhaus, , The translation is good and each section has a title which makes the central ideas of each part clearer. One may note that the main purpose of the myth is not to explain how the caste system came into being but how creation took place.

The Italian translation of the Rigveda by Valentino Papesso is a good text with an introduction and explanatory notes.

The introduction of certain concepts in the main text itself in brackets, makes the text easily understandable.

It can be considered as one of the best translations of the Rigveda available in Italian. But there is a model of creation which is more important than all those accounts mentioned in the Rigveda. It is the sacrificial model apparent in many of the Vedic hymns, especially in Rigveda which is dated around eighth century BC. The content of the myth The Cosmic Man Purusa is described as a primeval giant having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet.

All that exists is Himself, whether they existed in the past, existing in the present or yet to come into existence. He confers immortality and supports everything in the universe. Only one fourth of Himself is the universe, and within this part is both living and non- living beings. Three-fourth of Himself remains in heaven. He emanated a female creative principle viraj from which he is reborn in turn, before the world was made out of his body parts by dismemberment. The gods and sages sacrificed the Cosmic Man and from this primal sacrifice the world and all that it contains came forth.

Thus from this sacrifice originated the seasons, Vedic chants, verses, metres, magic spells, charms and formulas. The moon was born from His mind, the sun from His eyes, the heavens from His skull. From Him came beasts that live in the air, animals both wild and tame. From Him were born horses and those other animals which have a double set of incisors; cows, goats and sheep were also born from Him.

Gods Indra and Agni emerged from His mouth, and from His vital breath, the wind. From His navel the atmosphere was born; from His head the heaven appeared. From His two feet came the earth, and the regions of the sky from His ear. Some possible interpretations of the myth The creation of the universe and the origin of human beings are important aspects in any cosmological myth.

All creation myths are in one sense etiological because they attempt to explain how the world was formed and from where human beings came. But we have to admit that it is not easy to interpret a myth like the Rigveda which dates back to millennia. It is difficult to recapture the thought patterns, concepts and context of the Rigvedic people who created this myth. We can only make conjectures as to what they wanted convey and what went through their minds as they set out to compose it.

Besides, myths are only approximations and not total explanations of reality. Hence we must give the benefit of doubt to what we might claim as the truth of the myth. Affirmation of the efficacy of sacrifice The creation myth of Rigveda strongly affirms the efficacy of sacrifice. A reader of the text could ask why did the Rigvedic people chose the model of sacrifice to account for creation? Rigveda ,2; , 2.

The early texts of the Vedas were books dealing with sacrifice. The importance of sacrifice was such that they believed that sacrifice when done correctly has the power to produce anything. The sacrifice is able to produce the cosmos and everything it contains.

The gods and sages themselves perform the sacrifice because they believed in its efficacy and power. Thus the original creation was the result of the noblest of sacrifices with the Cosmic Man as the victim. Richard De Smet commenting on the myth argues that it stands for the concept of total causation. Some of these realities are spiritual in nature while others are material. It is worthy of note that creation produces not only the physical elements of the universe but also a social order, namely the caste system, which is the foundation of social life according to the Hindu view.

The creator contains the totality of all created realities. The Cosmic Man is a conscious being Purusa , and does not need any pre-existing material to create. In fact the myth states that nothing pre-existing is needed to create, and that the Cosmic Man is the one and the only source of creation. The myth says that, the Cosmic Man is in everything he created and that the created universe and the Cosmic Man are one and the same thing so that there is no difference between the two.