The verse and its meaning · Vedas · Vedas — The Goddess Speaks

Mother of the Father

Rig Veda 10.125.7

अहं सुवे पितरमस्य मूर्धन्मम योनिरप्स्वन्तः समुद्रे। ततो वि तिष्ठे भुवनानु विश्वोतामूं द्यां वर्ष्मणोप स्पृशामि

Meaning · English

At the world's head I bear the Father. My birthplace is in the waters, the sea. From there I spread through every world; my height touches that far sky.

Speech claims to come before the Father himself. She gives birth to him at the head of the world, its highest point. Sāyaṇa takes the Father to be the sky, which covers all things like a parent; other readers take him as the first maker. Her own womb, her place of origin, lies deep in the waters of the sea. From that low source she spreads into every world that exists. Then she rises until her body reaches the distant sky. She is present at the bottom and at the top.

Picture an old banyan beside a village well. Its roots go down into the wet ground, out of sight. Its branches reach across the whole square, and the top leaves catch the sky above the roofs. Speech is that tree: rooted in the deep waters, spread over every world, and tall enough to reach the sky.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

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• Before: Stringing Rudra's Bow · Rig Veda 10.125.6
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