History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.5

v6.c82.5

The word Kāla occurs only once in the Ṛgveda⁶⁵¹ 'as a gambler collects the *kṛta* (highest stake) at the (proper) time' (Ṛg. X. 42. 9, 'Kṛtaṁ yac śvaghni vicinoti kāle'). The Atharvaveda contains two hymns (XIX. 53 1-10 and XIX. 54. 1-5) embodying a most sublime conception of Kāla. A few striking verses⁶⁵² are translated here. 'Kāla (Time) carries (as) a horse with seven reins, thousand-eyed, ageless, endowed with plentiful seed (power); the wise poets mount him (as one mounts a chariot); all worlds are his wheels (53 1); he (Kāla) himself brought together the worlds and he himself went round (all) worlds together, being the father, he became the son of them (worlds); there is indeed no other brilliance that is higher (or beyond) him (53 4); in Time is mind, in Time is breath, in Time is placed name, all these beings are glad by time when it arrives (53. 7), Time created beings, in the beginning Kāla (created) Prajāpati, the self-existent Kaśyapa sprang from Kāla and (so did) *tapas* spring from Kāla (53. 10); Kāla, the son, created past and the future, from Time arose the ṛk (verses) and the *yajus* (sacrificial formulas) were born from time (54. 3), this world and the highest world, holy worlds and holy *vidhṛtis* having completely conquered these worlds by the *brahman* Time goes on (abides) as the highest god’ (54 5).