Hymn to the Ṛbhus
Rigveda I.20 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Ṛbhus, the divine craftsmen, mortal sages who won immortality through their skill. 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. This song of praise — richest bestower of treasure — has been made by the inspired singers with their mouths, for the one of divine birth.
2. They who, with their minds, fashioned for Indra his two bay horses yoked by a word — through their labors they reached the sacrifice.
3. They fashioned for the two Nāsatyas a chariot that rolls smoothly all around, easy to ride; they fashioned a cow yielding sweet milk.
4. The Ṛbhus, true to their word, honest in their ways, made the two aging parents young again through their work.
5. Your exhilarating soma-draughts have come together — with Indra accompanied by the Maruts, and with the kingly Ādityas.
6. And that single new cup, the finished work of the god Tvaṣṭṛ, they made into four.
7. Bestow on us treasures — thrice seven of them — for the one who presses the soma, one by one, through fine praises.
8. The bearers held it firm; through their skillful work they took a share, worthy of sacrifice, among the gods.
Translator's note: verse 1's "devāya janmane" (dative singular, "for the divine birth/race") is compressed and could point either to the Ṛbhus' own attainment of god-status or to the divine race generally; rendered conservatively as "the one of divine birth." Verse 4's "parents made young again" refers to the well-known Ṛbhu myth of rejuvenating their aged parents, understood by tradition as Heaven and Earth or the Ṛbhus' own father and mother; the Sanskrit itself does not name them, so the translation leaves them unnamed. Verse 5's "rājabhiḥ" ("kingly," describing the Ādityas) is kept as a plain epithet rather than expanded.
Colophon
Rigveda I.20 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.20
ayaṁ devāya janmane stomo viprebhir āsayā |
akāri ratnadhātamaḥ || 1 ||
ya indrāya vacoyujā tatakṣur manasā harī |
śamībhir yajñam āśata || 2 ||
takṣan nāsatyābhyām parijmānaṁ sukhaṁ ratham |
takṣan dhenuṁ sabardughām || 3 ||
yuvānā pitarā punaḥ satyamantrā ṛjūyavaḥ |
ṛbhavo viṣṭy akrata || 4 ||
saṁ vo madāso agmatendreṇa ca marutvatā |
ādityebhiś ca rājabhiḥ || 5 ||
uta tyaṁ camasaṁ navaṁ tvaṣṭur devasya niṣkṛtam |
akarta caturaḥ punaḥ || 6 ||
te no ratnāni dhattana trir ā sāptāni sunvate |
ekam-ekaṁ suśastibhiḥ || 7 ||
adhārayanta vahnayo 'bhajanta sukṛtyayā |
bhāgaṁ deveṣu yajñiyam || 8 ||
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).