Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda I.171 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed chiefly to the Maruts, the storm-gods and companions of Indra, with Indra himself named in the closing verse. The hymn has the character of a plea for reconciliation — the speaker approaches the Maruts with homage, admits to having set aside offerings meant for them out of fear of Indra, and asks that their anger be laid down and their favor restored. 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 is Agastya, per 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. I come before you with homage, seeking through this hymn the goodwill of the swift Maruts. Gracious through your own wisdom, O Maruts, lay down your anger — unyoke your horses.
2. This is your praise-song, Maruts, carried with homage, shaped by the heart, set in place by the mind, O gods. Come here, delighting in it with your minds — for it is homage alone that makes you grow strong.
3. May the Maruts, once praised, show us mercy, and the bounteous one, once praised, be most ready to bring us joy. May our cherished delights stand firm for us, and let all our days, O Maruts, be filled with the will to prevail.
4. Fleeing from this mighty one, trembling with fear of Indra, O Maruts — I had offerings sharpened and made ready for you; those I set aside, far off. Be gracious to us.
5. He by whose might the thoughtful perceive the ruddy dawns at each of their many daybreaks — may he, together with the Maruts, O bull, grant us glory: the fierce one, with the fierce, the steadfast, the joint bestower of strength.
6. Protect the mightier among us, Indra; be, together with the Maruts, one whose anger has turned away. Prevailing together with the clear-sighted ones, holding firm — may we come to know this troop, quick to give.
Translator's note: verse 3's "komyā vanāni" (rendered "cherished delights") and verse 6's "jīradānum" (rendered "quick to give") are terms with no settled sense; they are translated conservatively from their most plausible roots (kāmya-, "desired," and jīra-, "quick, lively," + dāna-, "giving") rather than by conjecture. Verse 5's dense string of epithets for Indra ("the fierce one, with the fierce, the steadfast, the joint bestower of strength") is kept close to the Sanskrit's own stacked apposition rather than smoothed into a single English clause.
Colophon
Rigveda I.171 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.171
prati va enā namasāham emi sūktena bhikṣe sumatiṁ turāṇām |
rarāṇatā maruto vedyābhir ni heḻo dhatta vi mucadhvam aśvān || 1 ||
eṣa vaḥ stomo maruto namasvān hṛdā taṣṭo manasā dhāyi devāḥ |
upem ā yāta manasā juṣāṇā yūyaṁ hi ṣṭhā namasa id vṛdhāsaḥ || 2 ||
stutāso no maruto mṛḻayantūta stuto maghavā śambhaviṣṭhaḥ |
ūrdhvā naḥ santu komyā vanāny ahāni viśvā maruto jigīṣā || 3 ||
asmād ahaṁ taviṣād īṣamāṇa indrād bhiyā maruto rejamānaḥ |
yuṣmabhyaṁ havyā niśitāny āsan tāny āre cakṛmā mṛḻatā naḥ || 4 ||
yena mānāsaś citayanta usrā vyuṣṭiṣu śavasā śaśvatīnām |
sa no marudbhir vṛṣabha śravo dhā ugra ugrebhiḥ sthaviraḥ sahodāḥ || 5 ||
tvam pāhīndra sahīyaso nṝn bhavā marudbhir avayātaheḻāḥ |
supraketebhiḥ sāsahir dadhāno vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 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).