Hymn to the Ṛtus
Rigveda I.15 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) built around the word ṛtu — "season" or "proper time." Rather than praising a single god named Ṛtu, the hymn moves in turn through the deities called to the sacrifice — Indra, the Maruts, the priest-god Neṣṭṛ, Agni, Mitra and Varuṇa, Draviṇodas ("wealth-giver"), and the Aśvins — asking each to drink the soma when their season, or turn, in the rite arrives. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books, and belongs to the tradition of the Kāṇva seers.
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. Indra, drink the soma in its season; let the soma-drops, the exhilarating ones, enter into you — that is their home.
2. Maruts, drink in due season; purify the sacrifice from the potar's cup, for you are truly the bounteous givers.
3. Praise our sacrifice, Neṣṭṛ, together with the divine women; drink in due season, for you are the bestower of treasures.
4. Agni, bring the gods here; seat them in their three resting-places; attend to them, drink in due season.
5. Indra, drink the soma that comes from the priest's gift, following the seasons — for your friendship never fails.
6. You two, Mitra and Varuṇa, upholders of the ordinance, whose power cannot be deceived, have come to the sacrifice in due season.
7. The wealth-seekers, pressing-stones in hand, invoke the god Draviṇodas at the rite, at the sacrifices.
8. May Draviṇodas give us the goods that are renowned; these we seek to win among the gods.
9. Draviṇodas wishes to drink — make the offering and stand ready; he is summoned by the seasons from the Neṣṭṛ's cup.
10. When we worship you, Draviṇodas, a fourth time, by the seasons, then be a giver to us.
11. Aśvins, drink the honeyed draught, you two who blaze like fire, of pure ordinances, bearers of the sacrifice, in due season.
12. True one, through the household fire, in due season you are the leader of the sacrifice; offer worship to the gods for the one who longs for the gods.
Translator's note: "draviṇodāḥ" (verses 7–10) is treated as a divine epithet-name, "wealth-giver," addressed to Agni in this portion of the rite, following the sense of the Sanskrit rather than translating it as a common noun each time. "Neṣṭṛ" (verses 3, 9) and "gārhapatya" (verse 12) are left as the ritual terms they are — the priestly office that pours libations, and the household fire — since no single modern English word covers them without narrowing their meaning.
Colophon
Rigveda I.15 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.15
indra somam piba ṛtunā tvā viśantv indavaḥ |
matsarāsas tadokasaḥ || 1 ||
marutaḥ pibata ṛtunā potrād yajñam punītana |
yūyaṁ hi ṣṭhā sudānavaḥ || 2 ||
abhi yajñaṁ gṛṇīhi no gnāvo neṣṭaḥ piba ṛtunā |
tvaṁ hi ratnadhā asi || 3 ||
agne devām̐ ihā vaha sādayā yoniṣu triṣu |
pari bhūṣa piba ṛtunā || 4 ||
brāhmaṇād indra rādhasaḥ pibā somam ṛtūm̐r anu |
taved dhi sakhyam astṛtam || 5 ||
yuvaṁ dakṣaṁ dhṛtavrata mitrāvaruṇa dūḻabham |
ṛtunā yajñam āśāthe || 6 ||
draviṇodā draviṇaso grāvahastāso adhvare |
yajñeṣu devam īḻate || 7 ||
draviṇodā dadātu no vasūni yāni śṛṇvire |
deveṣu tā vanāmahe || 8 ||
draviṇodāḥ pipīṣati juhota pra ca tiṣṭhata |
neṣṭrād ṛtubhir iṣyata || 9 ||
yat tvā turīyam ṛtubhir draviṇodo yajāmahe |
adha smā no dadir bhava || 10 ||
aśvinā pibatam madhu dīdyagnī śucivratā |
ṛtunā yajñavāhasā || 11 ||
gārhapatyena santya ṛtunā yajñanīr asi |
devān devayate yaja || 12 ||
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).