Hymn to the Aśvins

Rigveda I.119 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Aśvins, the twin divine horsemen, healers of the gods and bringers of dawn. Rather than general praise, the hymn moves through a sequence of specific rescue legends associated with the Aśvins — Bhujyu recovered from the sea, Rebha and Vandana restored from distress and old age, Atri relieved from scorching heat, Śayu given abundance, Dadhyañc's hidden knowledge drawn out through a horse's head, and Pedu given his unconquerable white horse. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books.

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. I call hither your chariot, rich in many wonders, swift as thought, drawn by lively horses, worthy of worship — that we may live — bannered with a thousand rays, abundant, holding a hundred treasures, quick to listen, bringing us freedom and plenty, toward our offering.

2. An uplifted prayer has been set toward its going forth, in the hymn of praise; the quarters of the sky have converged. I sweeten the hot milk-offering; your helps come near. Ūrjānī has mounted your chariot, O Aśvins.

3. When the mighty, unconquered, ever-victorious ones came together, contending with one another for glory in the contest — your chariot indeed is seen there on the slope, O Aśvins, when you carry the patron on to his desired reward.

4. You two, O mighty ones, carrying Bhujyu — who had been tossed about, swept away among the birds — back to his father in self-yoked conveyances, traveled a long and glorious course. Great, for Divodāsa, is your help known to be.

5. For your own marvel, O Aśvins, the voice has guided the strength of the chariot that you two have yoked. The maiden who came seeking your friendship and lordship chose you two, noble ones, as her husbands.

6. You two rescued Rebha from his distress. With cold you relieved Atri from the heat that had scorched him through. You two made the cow swell abundant for Śayu. Vandana was carried through by long life.

7. You two, O wondrous ones, restored Vandana, who had decayed with old age, setting him moving again like a chariot, by your own working. You brought the sage forth from the ground with a song of praise. Here, for the one who worships, your marvelous power has arisen.

8. You two went to him where he lamented, far away, afflicted by his own father's abandonment. From there, indeed, your radiant helps, your wondrous aids, drew near.

9. And that honey-laden bee murmured for you two; in the exhilaration of soma, the son of Uśij calls out again and again. You two seek to win the mind of Dadhyañc; then the horse's head spoke in answer to you.

10. You two, O Aśvins, favored Pedu with the much-desired white horse, conqueror of all rivals — radiant with arrows, unconquerable in battles, renowned like Indra, subduer of peoples.

Translator's note: verse 2's "Ūrjānī" is left untranslated as a proper name (possibly an epithet, "the vigorous one," or a wife-figure in the Aśvin myth-cycle); the Sanskrit is not decisive. "Vanin" (v.1) and "pravaṇa" (v.3, rendered "slope") are similarly compact terms whose full mythic resonance a short gloss cannot capture. Verses 4–10 allude to a cycle of Aśvin rescue-legends (Bhujyu, Rebha, Atri, Śayu, Vandana, Dadhyañc, Pedu) known elsewhere in the Rigveda; this hymn assumes rather than explains them, so some images remain compressed in translation as they are in the Sanskrit.

Colophon

Rigveda I.119 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.119

ā vāṁ ratham purumāyam manojuvaṁ jīrāśvaṁ yajñiyaṁ jīvase huve |
sahasraketuṁ vaninaṁ śatadvasuṁ śruṣṭīvānaṁ varivodhām abhi prayaḥ || 1 ||

ūrdhvā dhītiḥ praty asya prayāmany adhāyi śasman sam ayanta ā diśaḥ |
svadāmi gharmam prati yanty ūtaya ā vām ūrjānī ratham aśvināruhat || 2 ||

saṁ yan mithaḥ paspṛdhānāso agmata śubhe makhā amitā jāyavo raṇe |
yuvor aha pravaṇe cekite ratho yad aśvinā vahathaḥ sūrim ā varam || 3 ||

yuvam bhujyum bhuramāṇaṁ vibhir gataṁ svayuktibhir nivahantā pitṛbhya ā |
yāsiṣṭaṁ vartir vṛṣaṇā vijenya1ṁ divodāsāya mahi ceti vām avaḥ || 4 ||

yuvor aśvinā vapuṣe yuvāyujaṁ rathaṁ vāṇī yematur asya śardhyam |
ā vām patitvaṁ sakhyāya jagmuṣī yoṣāvṛṇīta jenyā yuvām patī || 5 ||

yuvaṁ rebham pariṣūter uruṣyatho himena gharmam paritaptam atraye |
yuvaṁ śayor avasam pipyathur gavi pra dīrgheṇa vandanas tāry āyuṣā || 6 ||

yuvaṁ vandanaṁ nirṛtaṁ jaraṇyayā rathaṁ na dasrā karaṇā sam invathaḥ |
kṣetrād ā vipraṁ janatho vipanyayā pra vām atra vidhate daṁsanā bhuvat || 7 ||

agacchataṁ kṛpamāṇam parāvati pituḥ svasya tyajasā nibādhitam |
svarvatīr ita ūtīr yuvor aha citrā abhīke abhavann abhiṣṭayaḥ || 8 ||

uta syā vām madhuman makṣikārapan made somasyauśijo huvanyati |
yuvaṁ dadhīco mana ā vivāsatho 'thā śiraḥ prati vām aśvyaṁ vadat || 9 ||

yuvam pedave puruvāram aśvinā spṛdhāṁ śvetaṁ tarutāraṁ duvasyathaḥ |
śaryair abhidyum pṛtanāsu duṣṭaraṁ carkṛtyam indram iva carṣaṇīsaham || 10 ||

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).