 It is in the hymns of the Rishi Dirghatamas (RV I.140 - 164) that we have the clearest such references.A number of famous sayings originate from the verses of Dirghatamas.Another one bites the dust
The first time the phrase "bites the dust" appears is in the Rgveda (1.158.4-5) where the poet Dirgatama has a prayer to the divine doctors and says ‘may the turning of the days not tire me, may the fires not burn me, may the wood-pyre not eat the earth, may the waters not swallow me’.