Genesis Chapters 1-3 

I can see many similarities and difference between the Rig Veda Hymns. The Hymn of Man and Genesis are similar because both texts name a creator and detail the creation of the world. However, I was not expecting to find the similarities between Genesis and The Creation Hymn.

 

It was interesting to me that both texts agree that everything was darkness and water before there was a creator. The Creation Hymn claims that “darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; with no distinguishing sign, all this was water” (3). Similarly, Genesis explains that “… the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (2). The difference between the two pertains to timing. In the Rig Veda, “that one” arises from the heat of the water; in Genesis, God encounters the dark earth and takes it upon himself to bring life to the earth. The Creation Hymn points out that “that one arose through the power of heat” (3); whereas Genesis states that “the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (2-3). After the small similarity of the world being water and dark prior to creation, the hymn and Genesis are vastly different.

 

The Hymn of Man, on the other hand, is more like Genesis. The main difference between Genesis and The Hymn of Man, other than the name of the god that created the world, is that in the hymn everything was created from the god but in Genesis the god created everything. The Hymn of Man describes that “the moon was born from his mind; from his eye, the sun was born” (13). In the hymn, the god was sacrificed to create the world. In Genesis, God simply created things. Genesis expresses that “God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also” (16).

 

I found it ironic that there were similarities between the Rig Veda, a text that does not have all the answers about creation, and the authoritative  Bible.