Hymn to Sūrya
Rigveda I.115 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Sūrya, the sun-god, the all-seeing eye of heaven, rider of the celestial chariot. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
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. The wondrous countenance of the gods has risen up — the eye of Mitra, of Varuṇa, of Agni. He has filled heaven and earth and the space between: Sūrya, the soul of all that moves and all that stands still.
2. Sūrya follows behind the shining goddess Dawn, as a young man follows behind a young woman. There, where men devoted to the gods extend their generations, good answers good.
3. Good are the tawny horses of Sūrya, brilliant, swift-going, worthy of praise. Paying homage, they have mounted the ridge of heaven; they circle heaven and earth in a single day.
4. That is Sūrya's godhead, that is his greatness: in the midst of his task he gathers up again what was spread out. When he unyokes his tawny horses from their resting-place, then Night spreads her garment out for him.
5. For the sight of Mitra and Varuṇa, Sūrya takes on his form in the lap of heaven. One of his forms is endless and bright; the other, dark, his tawny horses bear along together.
6. Today, O gods, at Sūrya's rising, carry us out of distress, out of disgrace. May Mitra and Varuṇa grant us this, and Aditi, the River, Earth, and Heaven.
Translator's note: verse 2's "yugāni vitanvate" (literally "stretch out the yugas") can mean either "extend the generations" or "extend the yokings" (of ritual or chariot); the rendering above follows the generational sense but the ambiguity is real. Verse 5 describes Sūrya's two "forms" — bright and dark — understood as day and night, the sun's alternating faces rather than two separate deities.
Colophon
Rigveda I.115 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.115
citraṁ devānām ud agād anīkaṁ cakṣur mitrasya varuṇasyāgneḥ |
āprā dyāvāpṛthivī antarikṣaṁ sūrya ātmā jagatas tasthuṣaś ca || 1 ||
sūryo devīm uṣasaṁ rocamānām maryo na yoṣām abhy eti paścāt |
yatrā naro devayanto yugāni vitanvate prati bhadrāya bhadram || 2 ||
bhadrā aśvā haritaḥ sūryasya citrā etagvā anumādyāsaḥ |
namasyanto diva ā pṛṣṭham asthuḥ pari dyāvāpṛthivī yanti sadyaḥ || 3 ||
tat sūryasya devatvaṁ tan mahitvam madhyā kartor vitataṁ saṁ jabhāra |
yaded ayukta haritaḥ sadhasthād ād rātrī vāsas tanute simasmai || 4 ||
tan mitrasya varuṇasyābhicakṣe sūryo rūpaṁ kṛṇute dyor upasthe |
anantam anyad ruśad asya pājaḥ kṛṣṇam anyad dharitaḥ sam bharanti || 5 ||
adyā devā uditā sūryasya nir aṁhasaḥ pipṛtā nir avadyāt |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 6 ||
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).