Hymn to the Vishvedevas, with a Gift-Praise
Rigveda I.122 is a sukta (hymn of praise) addressed across its course to several gods together — Rudra, the Maruts, Dawn and Night, Indra and Parvata, Mitra and Varuna, Pushan, and Agni — in the manner of the Vishvedevah (All-Gods) hymns of the Rigveda. In its second half the hymn shifts into a danastuti, a formal praise of the gifts a human patron has given the poet: cattle, horses, and chariots, tied to clan and personal names (Pajra, Nahusha, Shrutaratha, Priyaratha, Maskarshara, Ayavasa) that mark real, if now obscure, ties between poet and patron. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Mandala 1, the first of ten books, traditionally attributed to the seer Kakshivant Aushija.
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 Vedic Sanskrit. 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 Sakala recension.
1. Bring forward your drink, O swift-tempered ones — offer the sacrifice to Rudra the bountiful one. From heaven I have praised him, the Asura, together with his heroes — the Maruts, like arrows, of the two world-halves.
2. Like a devoted wife strengthening the first invocation, known in many forms — Dawn and Night together, wearing their unfolding garment, beautiful to see with the sun's splendor, in gold.
3. May the all-encompassing one, winner of wealth, gladden us; may the wind, rich in showering waters, gladden us. Sharpen us, O Indra and Parvata, you two; and may all the gods grant us that freedom.
4. And may those two, glorious to me, willing, be invoked for the brightening — I, the son of Ushij, calling on them as protectors. Bring forward for you the offspring of the waters; bring forward the two mothers of the rich, living one.
5. The son of Ushij calls on your roaring one, as a cry reaches toward the praise of Arjuna. Let me proclaim to you, for Pushan's giving, the bounty of Agni.
6. Hear my call, O Mitra and Varuna; and hear it in every seat, everywhere. May the one good at hearing, whose gift is hearing, hear us — the river of good fields, with its waters.
7. I praise that gift of yours, O Varuna and Mitra — a hundred cows among the Prikshayama, among the Pajra clan. Placed with Shrutaratha, with Priyaratha, they came at once, securing prosperity.
8. I praise the bounty of this great-gifted one; may we, good in our heroes, gain it together with the people of Nahusha — the man who, rich in strength, is a patron to me of the Pajra people, giver of horses and chariots.
9. The man who deceives Mitra and Varuna, who does not press the offering out for you two as the waters flow, being crooked-eyed and false — he himself sets disease in his own heart; only the one true to order gains it through his offerings.
10. He, growing strong among the people of Nahusha, driven by his own great deeds, mightiest among men, of praised fame, generous in his gifts, goes forth boldly striding — ever a hero in every battle.
11. Then let the two who come to earth hear the call of Nahusha's patron — the kings, joyful with the immortal drink; moving among the clouds, when they grant the bounty of the generous one, for praise, by their greatness, to the lord of chariots.
12. "This troop is the dwelling of that patron" — so they said, at the attaining of the tenfold gift. In them the splendors and the gifts have taken delight; may all gain the prize among the offerings.
13. We rejoice in the tenfold portion, when, bearing twice five, they go bringing the food-gifts. What now? — he whose horses are sought, whose reins are sought, is coming; the ruling ones, overcoming, do honor to the men.
14. The golden-eared, jewel-necked flood — may all the gods grant us that freedom. May the words of the noble patron, arriving at once, and the cows, delight us on both sides.
15. Four young ones were given to me from Mashkarshara, three from the victorious king Ayavasa. Your chariot, O Mitra and Varuna, long of form, its reins like hands, has shone like the sun.
Translator's note: this is one of the most linguistically difficult hymns in the Rigveda, attributed to Kakshivant, and several lines admit no fully confident rendering. Verses 4, 6, 9–15 in particular turn on rare words, elliptical grammar, and proper names (Prikshayama, Pajra, Nahusha, Shrutaratha, Priyaratha, Mashkarshara, Ayavasa, Arjuna) whose precise sense — clan, place, or person — is not always recoverable from the verse alone. The renderings above follow the Sanskrit conservatively, word by word, rather than smoothing the obscurity into confident prose.
Colophon
Rigveda I.122 is drawn from the Sakala 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.122
pra vaḥ pāntaṁ raghumanyavo 'ndho yajñaṁ rudrāya mīḻhuṣe bharadhvam |
divo astoṣy asurasya vīrair iṣudhyeva maruto rodasyoḥ || 1 ||
patnīva pūrvahūtiṁ vāvṛdhadhyā uṣāsānaktā purudhā vidāne |
starīr nātkaṁ vyutaṁ vasānā sūryasya śriyā sudṛśī hiraṇyaiḥ || 2 ||
mamattu naḥ parijmā vasarhā mamattu vāto apāṁ vṛṣaṇvān |
śiśītam indrāparvatā yuvaṁ nas tan no viśve varivasyantu devāḥ || 3 ||
uta tyā me yaśasā śvetanāyai vyantā pāntauśijo huvadhyai |
pra vo napātam apāṁ kṛṇudhvam pra mātarā rāspinasyāyoḥ || 4 ||
ā vo ruvaṇyum auśijo huvadhyai ghoṣeva śaṁsam arjunasya naṁśe |
pra vaḥ pūṣṇe dāvana ām̐ acchā voceya vasutātim agneḥ || 5 ||
śrutam me mitrāvaruṇā havemota śrutaṁ sadane viśvataḥ sīm |
śrotu naḥ śroturātiḥ suśrotuḥ sukṣetrā sindhur adbhiḥ || 6 ||
stuṣe sā vāṁ varuṇa mitra rātir gavāṁ śatā pṛkṣayāmeṣu pajre |
śrutarathe priyarathe dadhānāḥ sadyaḥ puṣṭiṁ nirundhānāso agman || 7 ||
asya stuṣe mahimaghasya rādhaḥ sacā sanema nahuṣaḥ suvīrāḥ |
jano yaḥ pajrebhyo vājinīvān aśvāvato rathino mahyaṁ sūriḥ || 8 ||
jano yo mitrāvaruṇāv abhidhrug apo na vāṁ sunoty akṣṇayādhruk |
svayaṁ sa yakṣmaṁ hṛdaye ni dhatta āpa yad īṁ hotrābhir ṛtāvā || 9 ||
sa vrādhato nahuṣo daṁsujūtaḥ śardhastaro narāṁ gūrtaśravāḥ |
visṛṣṭarātir yāti bāḻhasṛtvā viśvāsu pṛtsu sadam ic chūraḥ || 10 ||
adha gmantā nahuṣo havaṁ sūreḥ śrotā rājāno amṛtasya mandrāḥ |
nabhojuvo yan niravasya rādhaḥ praśastaye mahinā rathavate || 11 ||
etaṁ śardhaṁ dhāma yasya sūrer ity avocan daśatayasya naṁśe |
dyumnāni yeṣu vasutātī rāran viśve sanvantu prabhṛtheṣu vājam || 12 ||
mandāmahe daśatayasya dhāser dvir yat pañca bibhrato yanty annā |
kim iṣṭāśva iṣṭaraśmir eta īśānāsas taruṣa ṛñjate nṝn || 13 ||
hiraṇyakarṇam maṇigrīvam arṇas tan no viśve varivasyantu devāḥ |
aryo giraḥ sadya ā jagmuṣīr osrāś cākantūbhayeṣv asme || 14 ||
catvāro mā maśarśārasya śiśvas trayo rājña āyavasasya jiṣṇoḥ |
ratho vām mitrāvaruṇā dīrghāpsāḥ syūmagabhastiḥ sūro nādyaut || 15 ||
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).