Hymn to Brahmaṇaspati
Rigveda I.18 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Brahmaṇaspati (also known as Bṛhaspati), lord of sacred speech and divine knowledge, priest of the gods. 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. O Brahmaṇaspati, make resound, together with the soma, Kakṣīvant, who is the son of Uśij.
2. He who is rich, who drives away sickness, who finds goods, who increases nourishment — may that swift one hold fast to us.
3. Let not the curse of the grudging one, nor the deceit of a hostile mortal, reach us. Protect us, O Brahmaṇaspati.
4. That hero indeed comes to no harm whom Indra, Brahmaṇaspati, and Soma urge onward as a mortal.
5. You, O Brahmaṇaspati, and Soma, and Indra — may the sacrificial gift guard that mortal from distress.
6. I have won the wondrous lord of the assembly-seat, dear and desired by Indra — as a gain, wisdom.
7. Without whom not even the sacrifice of the inspired one succeeds — he furthers the yoking of our thoughts.
8. Then he makes the offering prosper, he carries the rite forward; the act of invocation goes to the gods.
9. I have seen Narāśaṃsa, most bold, most far-reaching, like the seat of sacrifice of heaven.
Translator's note: verse 1 is compressed — "somānaṃ svaraṇaṃ kṛṇuhi" literally reads "make sounding/resonant with soma," and its exact grammatical link to Kakṣīvant is not fully certain; the rendering above keeps the sense conservative. In verse 9, "sadmamakhasam" is a rare compound (roughly "whose sacrificial feast is at the seat") rendered here loosely as "the seat of sacrifice." Narāśaṃsa in verse 9 is a distinct divine figure ("praise of men") invoked alongside Brahmaṇaspati in this hymn, not a title of Brahmaṇaspati himself.
Colophon
Rigveda I.18 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.18
somānaṁ svaraṇaṁ kṛṇuhi brahmaṇas pate |
kakṣīvantaṁ ya auśijaḥ || 1 ||
yo revān yo amīvahā vasuvit puṣṭivardhanaḥ |
sa naḥ siṣaktu yas turaḥ || 2 ||
mā naḥ śaṁso araruṣo dhūrtiḥ praṇaṅ martyasya |
rakṣā ṇo brahmaṇas pate || 3 ||
sa ghā vīro na riṣyati yam indro brahmaṇas patiḥ |
somo hinoti martyam || 4 ||
tvaṁ tam brahmaṇas pate soma indraś ca martyam |
dakṣiṇā pātv aṁhasaḥ || 5 ||
sadasas patim adbhutam priyam indrasya kāmyam |
sanim medhām ayāsiṣam || 6 ||
yasmād ṛte na sidhyati yajño vipaścitaś cana |
sa dhīnāṁ yogam invati || 7 ||
ād ṛdhnoti haviṣkṛtim prāñcaṁ kṛṇoty adhvaram |
hotrā deveṣu gacchati || 8 ||
narāśaṁsaṁ sudhṛṣṭamam apaśyaṁ saprathastamam |
divo na sadmamakhasam || 9 ||
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).