Hymn to Uṣas
Rigveda I.124 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Uṣas, the goddess of dawn, bringer of light, daughter of heaven, mother of mornings. 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. Dawn shines forth as Agni is kindled; the rising sun has spread its light far and wide. The god Savitar has now roused us to our purpose here, that two-footed and four-footed creatures go forth.
2. Not violating the divine ordinances, yet wearing away the generations of men, resembling the many dawns that have passed, the foremost of the dawns to come has shone out.
3. This daughter of heaven has appeared, clothed in light, the same each time, in the east. She follows rightly the path of cosmic order; as though she knew it, she does not miss the directions.
4. She has been seen approaching, like the breast of one who purifies herself; like Nodhas, she has revealed her cherished things. Waking the sleepers as if to their meal, the most constant of the ever-returning dawns has come again.
5. In the eastern half of the watery realm, the mother of the radiant cows has raised her banner. She spreads herself out, wider and wider, filling both laps of her parents.
6. Thus indeed this many-shaped one, for all to see, passes over neither stranger nor kin. Radiant with a spotless body, she shrinks from neither the small nor the great as she shines.
7. Like a woman without a brother, she goes forth toward men; like one mounting a chariot-seat to win riches. Like a loving wife, well-dressed, going to her husband, Dawn, as if smiling, uncovers her beauty.
8. The younger sister has yielded her place to the elder sister; she departs, glancing back at her as she goes. Shining forth, she anoints herself with the rays of the sun, like women of a troop moving together.
9. Among these earlier sister-dawns of days gone by, the later follows behind the earlier. May these dawns, new now as of old, shine richly on us, bringing good days.
10. Awaken the generous givers, O Dawn; let the stingy Paṇis sleep on, unroused. Shine richly for the bounteous patrons, O bounteous one; shine richly for the one who praises you, gracious one, as you wear away the dark.
11. This young woman has moved forth in the east; she yokes the team of ruddy cows. Now let her shine forth, let the sign of day appear; Agni takes his place at every house.
12. Even the birds have flown up from their nests because of you, and the men who share the meal rise at your dawning. To the one who stays at home you bring abundant good things, O goddess Dawn, to the mortal who makes offering.
13. You have been praised, O praiseworthy ones, with my sacred word; you have been exalted, O eager Dawns. Through your help, goddesses, may we win a prize both thousandfold and hundredfold.
Translator's note: verse 4 contains two obscure terms rendered conservatively — "śundhyuvaḥ" (one who purifies/cleanses herself, here read as a bathing woman) and the reference to "Nodhas" (likely the ṛṣi Nodhas, taken as a simile for revealing cherished/dear things); the exact sense of "admasan" ("as if to a meal," describing the waking of sleepers) is uncertain and translated by its most literal component. Verse 7's "gartārug" (mounting a chariot-seat) and verse 10's "jārayantī" (literally "wearing away" or "consuming," here rendered as Dawn wearing away the dark) are likewise translated conservatively rather than idiomatically.
Colophon
Rigveda I.124 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.124
uṣā ucchantī samidhāne agnā udyan sūrya urviyā jyotir aśret |
devo no atra savitā nv artham prāsāvīd dvipat pra catuṣpad ityai || 1 ||
aminatī daivyāni vratāni praminatī manuṣyā yugāni |
īyuṣīṇām upamā śaśvatīnām āyatīnām prathamoṣā vy adyaut || 2 ||
eṣā divo duhitā praty adarśi jyotir vasānā samanā purastāt |
ṛtasya panthām anv eti sādhu prajānatīva na diśo mināti || 3 ||
upo adarśi śundhyuvo na vakṣo nodhā ivāvir akṛta priyāṇi |
admasan na sasato bodhayantī śaśvattamāgāt punar eyuṣīṇām || 4 ||
pūrve ardhe rajaso aptyasya gavāṁ janitry akṛta pra ketum |
vy u prathate vitaraṁ varīya obhā pṛṇantī pitror upasthā || 5 ||
eved eṣā purutamā dṛśe kaṁ nājāmiṁ na pari vṛṇakti jāmim |
arepasā tanvā3 śāśadānā nārbhād īṣate na maho vibhātī || 6 ||
abhrāteva puṁsa eti pratīcī gartārug iva sanaye dhanānām |
jāyeva patya uśatī suvāsā uṣā hasreva ni riṇīte apsaḥ || 7 ||
svasā svasre jyāyasyai yonim āraig apaity asyāḥ praticakṣyeva |
vyucchantī raśmibhiḥ sūryasyāñjy aṅkte samanagā iva vrāḥ || 8 ||
āsām pūrvāsām ahasu svasṝṇām aparā pūrvām abhy eti paścāt |
tāḥ pratnavan navyasīr nūnam asme revad ucchantu sudinā uṣāsaḥ || 9 ||
pra bodhayoṣaḥ pṛṇato maghony abudhyamānāḥ paṇayaḥ sasantu |
revad uccha maghavadbhyo maghoni revat stotre sūnṛte jārayantī || 10 ||
aveyam aśvaid yuvatiḥ purastād yuṅkte gavām aruṇānām anīkam |
vi nūnam ucchād asati pra ketur gṛhaṁ-gṛham upa tiṣṭhāte agniḥ || 11 ||
ut te vayaś cid vasater apaptan naraś ca ye pitubhājo vyuṣṭau |
amā sate vahasi bhūri vāmam uṣo devi dāśuṣe martyāya || 12 ||
astoḍhvaṁ stomyā brahmaṇā me 'vīvṛdhadhvam uśatīr uṣāsaḥ |
yuṣmākaṁ devīr avasā sanema sahasriṇaṁ ca śatinaṁ ca vājam || 13 ||
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).