Who created the universe?
Hinduism has not one creation story but many — and its oldest hymn on creation ends with a question mark. What do the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and the philosophical schools each say about where the universe came from?
The verse
A hymn that admits it does not know
The Nasadiya Sukta of the Rigveda (10.129) describes a time before existence and non-existence, before death and immortality, when "darkness was hidden by darkness". Desire arose, the first seed of mind. And then the poet asks: who really knows how this creation came about? Even the gods came after it. "He who surveys it from the highest heaven — perhaps he knows, or perhaps he does not."
Many answers, honestly held
The Hindu tradition did not choose one answer and suppress the rest. The Upanishads, the Puranas and the six darshanas each give their own account — and the differences between them are some of the most interesting ideas humans have had…
The journey continues for members
- The answers, side by side
- Cycles, not a single beginning
- Science and scripture
- For life today
Sources
- Rigveda — 10.129
- Taittiriya Upanishad — 3.1
- Samkhya Karika — Ishvarakrishna
- Vishnu Purana — Book 1