Hymn to Dyāvāpṛthivī
Rigveda I.160 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Dyāvāpṛthivī, Heaven and Earth, the primordial parents, source of all that exists. 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. These two, Heaven and Earth, bringing good to all, true to the cosmic order, the wise ones who hold up the middle realm — between the two well-born vessels the bright sun moves, god and goddess, by their law.
2. The two wide-extending, great, unfailing ones, father and mother, protect the creatures. The two bold ones, like a wonder, are these two worlds — since the father clothed her about with forms.
3. He, the carrier, the son of the two parents, possessed of purifying power, the wise one purifies the worlds by his hidden skill. The dappled cow and the bull of strong seed — always they draw from him his bright milk.
4. This one, most skillful of the working gods, who gave birth to the two worlds, bringing good to all, who measured out the two realms by his good wisdom and joined them fast together with unaging props.
5. Being praised by us, O great ones, grant us, Heaven and Earth, great fame and lofty dominion, by which we may extend over the peoples always. Together bestow on us your praiseworthy strength.
Translator's note: verse 4's "sam ānṛce" (from a root meaning to shine, praise, or join) and the "props/pillars" that hold heaven and earth apart are rendered conservatively — the exact mechanics of the image are not fully certain. Verse 3's "carrier, son of the two parents" who purifies the worlds is Agni, though he is not named outright in the verse; this follows the pronoun and imagery rather than adding his name.
Colophon
Rigveda I.160 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.160
te hi dyāvāpṛthivī viśvaśambhuva ṛtāvarī rajaso dhārayatkavī |
sujanmanī dhiṣaṇe antar īyate devo devī dharmaṇā sūryaḥ śuciḥ || 1 ||
uruvyacasā mahinī asaścatā pitā mātā ca bhuvanāni rakṣataḥ |
sudhṛṣṭame vapuṣye3 na rodasī pitā yat sīm abhi rūpair avāsayat || 2 ||
sa vahniḥ putraḥ pitroḥ pavitravān punāti dhīro bhuvanāni māyayā |
dhenuṁ ca pṛśniṁ vṛṣabhaṁ suretasaṁ viśvāhā śukram payo asya dukṣata || 3 ||
ayaṁ devānām apasām apastamo yo jajāna rodasī viśvaśambhuvā |
vi yo mame rajasī sukratūyayājarebhiḥ skambhanebhiḥ sam ānṛce || 4 ||
te no gṛṇāne mahinī mahi śravaḥ kṣatraṁ dyāvāpṛthivī dhāsatho bṛhat |
yenābhi kṛṣṭīs tatanāma viśvahā panāyyam ojo asme sam invatam || 5 ||
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).