Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda I.118 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Aśvins, the twin divine horsemen, healers of the gods and bringers of dawn. 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. May your chariot, O Aśvins, flying like a falcon, gracious, giving good shelter, come this way — swifter than a mortal's mind, three-seated, O bulls, racing with the wind.
2. With your three-seated, threefold chariot, three-wheeled and well-turning, come this way. Make our cows swell with milk, quicken our horses, and strengthen a hero for us, O Aśvins.
3. With your well-turning chariot going forth, O wonder-workers, hear this call of the pressing-stone. Why is it, then, that the sages of old have said you are quickest of all to go toward one in distress, O Aśvins?
4. May falcons carry you here, O Aśvins — swift flying birds yoked to the chariot — which, crossing the waters, heavenly, like vultures, carry you, O Nāsatyas, toward the offering.
5. Onto your chariot here mounted the young woman, taking pleasure in it, O men — the daughter of Sūrya. May your marvelous horses, flying birds, ruddy-colored, carry you close in this meeting.
6. You raised up Vandana by your wondrous deeds; you raised up Rebha, O wonder-working bulls, by your powers. You brought Tugra's son safe out of the sea, and you made Cyavāna young again.
7. For Atri, cast down, you set burning strength and helping power, O Aśvins. For Kaṇva, whose eyes were smeared over, you restored sight, taking pleasure in his fine praise.
8. You made the milch-cow swell with milk for Śayu, the ancient suppliant, O Aśvins. You freed the quail from her distress, and gave Viśpalā a leg in its place.
9. You gave to Pedu, O Aśvins, a white horse driven by Indra — a slayer of serpents, ever to be called upon, overpowering, mighty, winner of a thousand prizes, strong of limb.
10. We call on you, O well-born men, for good protection, O Aśvins, as suppliants. Come to us with your wealth-laden chariot, taking pleasure in our praise-songs, for our well-being.
11. Come to us with the fresh speed of a falcon, O Nāsatyas, at one in your purpose. For I call you, O Aśvins, offering my oblation, at the breaking of the ever-returning dawn.
Translator's note: Verse 3's "pravadyāmanā" (describing the chariot's course) and "avarti" ("distress" or "misfortune") are rendered conservatively; both are uncommon terms with some scholarly disagreement on precise sense. Verses 6–9 refer to a cluster of Aśvin rescue legends — Bhujyu son of Tugra saved from the sea, the rejuvenation of the aged Cyavāna, the restored sight of Kaṇva, the healing of Atri, the milch-cow given to Śayu, the mare/quail freed and Viśpalā's leg replaced, and the winning horse given to Pedu — which the hymn names only in brief, as they were already familiar to its original audience.
Colophon
Rigveda I.118 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.118
ā vāṁ ratho aśvinā śyenapatvā sumṛḻīkaḥ svavām̐ yātv arvāṅ |
yo martyasya manaso javīyān trivandhuro vṛṣaṇā vātaraṁhāḥ || 1 ||
trivandhureṇa trivṛtā rathena tricakreṇa suvṛtā yātam arvāk |
pinvataṁ gā jinvatam arvato no vardhayatam aśvinā vīram asme || 2 ||
pravadyāmanā suvṛtā rathena dasrāv imaṁ śṛṇutaṁ ślokam adreḥ |
kim aṅga vām praty avartiṁ gamiṣṭhāhur viprāso aśvinā purājāḥ || 3 ||
ā vāṁ śyenāso aśvinā vahantu rathe yuktāsa āśavaḥ pataṁgāḥ |
ye apturo divyāso na gṛdhrā abhi prayo nāsatyā vahanti || 4 ||
ā vāṁ rathaṁ yuvatis tiṣṭhad atra juṣṭvī narā duhitā sūryasya |
pari vām aśvā vapuṣaḥ pataṁgā vayo vahantv aruṣā abhīke || 5 ||
ud vandanam airataṁ daṁsanābhir ud rebhaṁ dasrā vṛṣaṇā śacībhiḥ |
niṣ ṭaugryam pārayathaḥ samudrāt punaś cyavānaṁ cakrathur yuvānam || 6 ||
yuvam atraye 'vanītāya taptam ūrjam omānam aśvināv adhattam |
yuvaṁ kaṇvāyāpiriptāya cakṣuḥ praty adhattaṁ suṣṭutiṁ jujuṣāṇā || 7 ||
yuvaṁ dhenuṁ śayave nādhitāyāpinvatam aśvinā pūrvyāya |
amuñcataṁ vartikām aṁhaso niḥ prati jaṅghāṁ viśpalāyā adhattam || 8 ||
yuvaṁ śvetam pedava indrajūtam ahihanam aśvinādattam aśvam |
johūtram aryo abhibhūtim ugraṁ sahasrasāṁ vṛṣaṇaṁ vīḍvaṅgam || 9 ||
tā vāṁ narā sv avase sujātā havāmahe aśvinā nādhamānāḥ |
ā na upa vasumatā rathena giro juṣāṇā suvitāya yātam || 10 ||
ā śyenasya javasā nūtanenāsme yātaṁ nāsatyā sajoṣāḥ |
have hi vām aśvinā rātahavyaḥ śaśvattamāyā uṣaso vyuṣṭau || 11 ||
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).