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# A History of Sanskrit Literature c8.87

A History of Sanskrit Literature c8.87

- **Language:** English

### [c8.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c8.87)

\*Non-being then existed not, nor being :\*  
\*There was no air, nor heaven which is beyond it.\*  
\*What motion was there? Where? By whom directed?\*  
\*Was water there, and fathomless abysses?\*  
  
\*Death then existed not, nor life immortal;\*  
\*Of neither night nor day was any semblance.\*  
\*The One breathed calm and windless by self-impulse :\*  
\*There was not any other thing beyond it.\*  
  
\*Darkness at first was covered up by darkness;\*  
\*This universe was indistinct and fluid.\*  
\*The empty space that by the void was hidden,\*  
\*That One was by the force of heat engendered.\*  
  
\*Desire then at the first arose within it,\*  
\*Desire, which was the earliest seed of spirit.\*  
\*The bond of being in non-being sages\*  
\*Discovered searching in their hearts with wisdom.\*

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Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c8.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c8.87) · Pramāṇa