Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda I.157 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Aśvins, the twin divine horsemen, healers of the gods and bringers of dawn. 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. Agni has awoken. The sun rises up from the earth. Bright, great Dawn has opened herself out with her radiance. The two Aśvins have yoked their chariot to travel; god Savitṛ has set the world's creatures moving, each on its own path.
2. When you two, Aśvins, yoke your mighty chariot, anoint our dominion with ghee, with honey. Quicken our sacred word in the contests; may we share in the prizes when heroes win the spoil.
3. Let the three-wheeled, honey-bearing chariot of the Aśvins, drawn by swift horses and well-praised, come toward us — three-seated, bountiful, bringer of every fortune. May it carry well-being to us, to two-footed and four-footed alike.
4. Bring us strength, you two Aśvins; sprinkle us with your honeyed whip. Extend our lifespan; wipe away our afflictions; drive off hostility; be our close companions.
5. You two indeed place the seed of life in moving creatures; you are present within all the worlds. You two, mighty ones, O Aśvins, set in motion Agni and the waters and the lords of the forest.
6. You two are physicians with your remedies; you are also charioteers with your chariot-skill. And you, mighty ones, bestow dominion on whoever has given to you with an oblation, with a devoted mind.
Colophon
Rigveda I.157 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.157
abodhy agnir jma ud eti sūryo vy u1ṣāś candrā mahy āvo arciṣā |
āyukṣātām aśvinā yātave ratham prāsāvīd devaḥ savitā jagat pṛthak || 1 ||
yad yuñjāthe vṛṣaṇam aśvinā rathaṁ ghṛtena no madhunā kṣatram ukṣatam |
asmākam brahma pṛtanāsu jinvataṁ vayaṁ dhanā śūrasātā bhajemahi || 2 ||
arvāṅ tricakro madhuvāhano ratho jīrāśvo aśvinor yātu suṣṭutaḥ |
trivandhuro maghavā viśvasaubhagaḥ śaṁ na ā vakṣad dvipade catuṣpade || 3 ||
ā na ūrjaṁ vahatam aśvinā yuvam madhumatyā naḥ kaśayā mimikṣatam |
prāyus tāriṣṭaṁ nī rapāṁsi mṛkṣataṁ sedhataṁ dveṣo bhavataṁ sacābhuvā || 4 ||
yuvaṁ ha garbhaṁ jagatīṣu dhattho yuvaṁ viśveṣu bhuvaneṣv antaḥ |
yuvam agniṁ ca vṛṣaṇāv apaś ca vanaspatīm̐r aśvināv airayethām || 5 ||
yuvaṁ ha stho bhiṣajā bheṣajebhir atho ha stho rathyā3 rāthyebhiḥ |
atho ha kṣatram adhi dhattha ugrā yo vāṁ haviṣmān manasā dadāśa || 6 ||
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).