Hymn to the Viśvedevas (the All-Gods)
Rigveda I.106 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Viśvedevas, the "All-Gods" — a broad company of deities invoked together rather than a single god. The hymn calls in turn on Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, the Maruts, Aditi and her sons the Ādityas, the ancestral fathers, the divine pair Heaven-and-Earth, Narāśaṁsa, Pūṣan, and Bṛhaspati, asking each for rescue from distress. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The Anukramaṇī (traditional index) attributes it to the ṛṣi Kutsa Āṅgirasa, who is named within the hymn itself.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. We call, for our protection, on Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, the host of the Maruts, and Aditi. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
2. You Ādityas, come here for our complete well-being; be, O gods, kindly to us in our struggles against obstruction. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
3. May our fathers of eloquent speech watch over us, and the two goddesses who bear the gods, strengtheners of the cosmic order. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
4. Urging on here Narāśaṁsa the vigorous, and Pūṣan who rules over heroes, we entreat them with our goodwill. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
5. O Bṛhaspati, make our road easy always; we ask of you that well-being which is set for the good of man. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
6. Indra, slayer of Vṛtra, lord of might — the seer Kutsa, sunk down in a pit, called on him for help. Like a chariot out of bad ground — O Vasus of good gifts — carry us clear of every distress.
7. May the goddess Aditi, with the gods, protect us; may the god who is our guardian guard us without relenting. Let Mitra and Varuṇa grant us this in abundance — Aditi, the River, the Earth, and Heaven.
Translator's note: verse 3's "devī devaputre" (dual) is read here as the pair Heaven-and-Earth, traditionally called "mothers of the gods"; verse 6's "kāṭe nibāḻhaḥ" ("sunk down in a pit") refers to the well-known myth of the seer Kutsa's distress, alluded to rather than narrated in the hymn.
Colophon
Rigveda I.106 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.106
indram mitraṁ varuṇam agnim ūtaye mārutaṁ śardho aditiṁ havāmahe |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 1 ||
ta ādityā ā gatā sarvatātaye bhūta devā vṛtratūryeṣu śambhuvaḥ |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 2 ||
avantu naḥ pitaraḥ supravācanā uta devī devaputre ṛtāvṛdhā |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 3 ||
narāśaṁsaṁ vājinaṁ vājayann iha kṣayadvīram pūṣaṇaṁ sumnair īmahe |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 4 ||
bṛhaspate sadam in naḥ sugaṁ kṛdhi śaṁ yor yat te manurhitaṁ tad īmahe |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 5 ||
indraṁ kutso vṛtrahaṇaṁ śacīpatiṁ kāṭe nibāḻha ṛṣir ahvad ūtaye |
rathaṁ na durgād vasavaḥ sudānavo viśvasmān no aṁhaso niṣ pipartana || 6 ||
devair no devy aditir ni pātu devas trātā trāyatām aprayucchan |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 7 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).