Dāna-stuti — Praise of Svanaya Bhāvya's Generosity
Rigveda I.126 is a dāna-stuti (praise of a gift) rather than a hymn to a god: the seer Kakṣīvant Auśija lists, in loving detail, the horses, gold, cattle, chariots, and a woman given to him by his patron, the king Svanaya Bhāvya, who dwelt on the Sindhu. 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 bring forth these plain-spoken hymns with my mind's insight, for Bhāvya who dwells beside the Sindhu — he who measured out a thousand gifts to me, the unconquered king, seeking glory.
2. A hundred gold ornaments from the petitioning king, a hundred horses given — I received them at once. Kakṣīvant received a hundred cattle of the mighty lord; he has spread imperishable fame in heaven.
3. Dark horses given by Svanaya came to me; ten chariots with brides stood ready. Sixty thousand head of cattle-wealth followed after. Kakṣīvant won this at the close of the days.
4. Forty red horses of the ten-charioted king lead the line at the head of a thousand. The Pajras, with Kakṣīvant, groomed the spirited racehorses adorned with gold.
5. Following the earlier gift, I have received from you three yoked teams and eight bountiful cows. The Pajras, good kinsmen like the clans of a whole people, sought glory with their wagons.
6. Bound close, wrapped close about, she who moves like a kaśikā — the Yadu woman gives me a hundred delights of the Yaśus.
7. Come, come close, touch me all over — do not think little of me. I am woolly all over, like a ewe of the Gandhāris.
Translator's note: Verse 6 is one of the most obscure in the Rigveda; the words āgadhitā, parigadhitā, and kaśīkā have no certain meaning, and the rendering above is conservative and literal rather than confident. Verses 6–7 shift to a woman's voice — she is among the gifts Svanaya gave the seer — and verse 7 compares her abundant hair or wool to the fleece of Gandhāra sheep, famed for their wool.
Colophon
Rigveda I.126 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.126
amandān stomān pra bhare manīṣā sindhāv adhi kṣiyato bhāvyasya |
yo me sahasram amimīta savān atūrto rājā śrava icchamānaḥ || 1 ||
śataṁ rājño nādhamānasya niṣkāñ chatam aśvān prayatān sadya ādam |
śataṁ kakṣīvām̐ asurasya gonāṁ divi śravo 'jaram ā tatāna || 2 ||
upa mā śyāvāḥ svanayena dattā vadhūmanto daśa rathāso asthuḥ |
ṣaṣṭiḥ sahasram anu gavyam āgāt sanat kakṣīvām̐ abhipitve ahnām || 3 ||
catvāriṁśad daśarathasya śoṇāḥ sahasrasyāgre śreṇiṁ nayanti |
madacyutaḥ kṛśanāvato atyān kakṣīvanta ud amṛkṣanta pajrāḥ || 4 ||
pūrvām anu prayatim ā dade vas trīn yuktām̐ aṣṭāv aridhāyaso gāḥ |
subandhavo ye viśyā iva vrā anasvantaḥ śrava aiṣanta pajrāḥ || 5 ||
āgadhitā parigadhitā yā kaśīkeva jaṅgahe |
dadāti mahyaṁ yādurī yāśūnām bhojyā śatā || 6 ||
upopa me parā mṛśa mā me dabhrāṇi manyathāḥ |
sarvāham asmi romaśā gandhārīṇām ivāvikā || 7 ||
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).