Early Vedic cosmogonic views: The origin of the Universe and the concept of Time in the Atharvaveda

Kulikov, Leonid
(2023) Narrating India: Traditions, Attitudes and Directions; Conf.on the occasion of the 40th anniversary Indian Studies at Sofia Univ — Location: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria (16.October.2023)

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Traditionally, the early Vedic period of Indian thought is considered pre-philosophical, with no elaborated philosophy comparable to the Classical Indian darśanas. Yet, there is an early Vedic text (roughly contemporaneous with the late R̥gveda), which at least sheds some light on the early Vedic (and, presumably, common Indo-European) cosmogonic views – the Atharvavedic Kālasūkta (Śaunakīya 19.53-54 = Paippalāda 11.8-9). The paper offers a linguistic and historical comparative analysis of the Kālasūkta, paying special attention to the views on the origins of the Universe, Vedic cosmogony and the concept of Time as well as to parallels in some other ancient Indo-European traditions. It will be argued that this hymn, created at the end of the early Vedic period, may point to the existence of well-elaborated early philosophical and cosmogonic views (which later could serve as basis for developing full-fledged philosophical systems), probably going back to the late Common Indo-European period.
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Kulikov, L. (2023). Early Vedic cosmogonic views: The origin of the Universe and the concept of Time in the Atharvaveda. Narrating India: Traditions, Attitudes and Directions; Conf.on the occasion of the 40th anniversary Indian Studies at Sofia Univ, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/102329