Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda I.35 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Savitṛ, the golden-handed god of the sun's impelling power, who drives his chariot between heaven and earth, through the dark atmosphere, surveying the quarters of the world and the paths of the sky. 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. I call Agni first, for well-being. I call Mitra and Varuṇa here, for help. I call Night, who settles the moving world to rest. I call the god Savitṛ, for aid.
2. Moving through the dark realm of atmosphere, setting the immortal and the mortal to rest, Savitṛ the god goes in his golden chariot, watching over all beings.
3. The god goes by the downward path, goes by the upward path; the one worthy of worship goes with his two bright bay horses. The god Savitṛ comes from the distance, driving away every hardship.
4. Covered over with gold studs, taking every form, with a golden chariot-pin, worthy of worship, vast — the brilliant-rayed Savitṛ has mounted his chariot, bearing his strength through the dark realms.
5. The dark horses with white feet, drawing the chariot with its golden front, have looked out over the peoples. Continually all beings stand in the lap of divine Savitṛ.
6. Three are the heavens of Savitṛ — two are his lap, and one, ruling over heroes, is in the realm of Yama. They rest upon the immortal like the linchpin of a chariot. Let the one who understands this declare it here.
7. The fair-winged one, deep-trembling, mighty and well-guiding, has surveyed the airy regions. Where now is the sun? Who knows? To which heaven has its ray reached?
8. He has surveyed the eight quarters of the earth, the three desert stretches, the seven rivers. Golden-eyed Savitṛ the god has come, bestowing choice treasures on the one who offers worship.
9. Golden-handed Savitṛ, far-seeing, moves between the two, heaven and earth. He drives away sickness, he goes toward the sun; he mounts up to the sky through the dark realm.
10. May the golden-handed one, mighty, well-guiding, gracious, kind, come forward, driving off the demons and sorcerers. The god has taken his stand, praised at the approach of evening.
11. Those ancient paths of yours, Savitṛ, dustless, well-made, in the atmosphere — by those easy paths protect us today, and speak on our behalf, o god.
Translator's note: "kṛṣṇena rajasā" (verses 2 and 9) is rendered as "the dark realm/atmosphere," following its standard sense as the darkened air of night or twilight through which Savitṛ travels. "Suparṇaḥ" in verse 7 ("the fair-winged one") is left as an epithet rather than expanded, since the hymn does not specify whether it names the sun itself or a bird associated with it. "Rakṣas" and "yātudhāna" in verse 10 are rendered "demons" and "sorcerers," the conventional senses of these terms for malevolent, harm-working beings.
Colophon
Rigveda I.35 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.35
hvayāmy agnim prathamaṁ svastaye hvayāmi mitrāvaruṇāv ihāvase |
hvayāmi rātrīṁ jagato niveśanīṁ hvayāmi devaṁ savitāram ūtaye || 1 ||
ā kṛṣṇena rajasā vartamāno niveśayann amṛtam martyaṁ ca |
hiraṇyayena savitā rathenā devo yāti bhuvanāni paśyan || 2 ||
yāti devaḥ pravatā yāty udvatā yāti śubhrābhyāṁ yajato haribhyām |
ā devo yāti savitā parāvato 'pa viśvā duritā bādhamānaḥ || 3 ||
abhīvṛtaṁ kṛśanair viśvarūpaṁ hiraṇyaśamyaṁ yajato bṛhantam |
āsthād rathaṁ savitā citrabhānuḥ kṛṣṇā rajāṁsi taviṣīṁ dadhānaḥ || 4 ||
vi janāñ chyāvāḥ śitipādo akhyan rathaṁ hiraṇyapraügaṁ vahantaḥ |
śaśvad viśaḥ savitur daivyasyopasthe viśvā bhuvanāni tasthuḥ || 5 ||
tisro dyāvaḥ savitur dvā upasthām̐ ekā yamasya bhuvane virāṣāṭ |
āṇiṁ na rathyam amṛtādhi tasthur iha bravītu ya u tac ciketat || 6 ||
vi suparṇo antarikṣāṇy akhyad gabhīravepā asuraḥ sunīthaḥ |
kve3dānīṁ sūryaḥ kaś ciketa katamāṁ dyāṁ raśmir asyā tatāna || 7 ||
aṣṭau vy akhyat kakubhaḥ pṛthivyās trī dhanva yojanā sapta sindhūn |
hiraṇyākṣaḥ savitā deva āgād dadhad ratnā dāśuṣe vāryāṇi || 8 ||
hiraṇyapāṇiḥ savitā vicarṣaṇir ubhe dyāvāpṛthivī antar īyate |
apāmīvām bādhate veti sūryam abhi kṛṣṇena rajasā dyām ṛṇoti || 9 ||
hiraṇyahasto asuraḥ sunīthaḥ sumṛḻīkaḥ svavām̐ yātv arvāṅ |
apasedhan rakṣaso yātudhānān asthād devaḥ pratidoṣaṁ gṛṇānaḥ || 10 ||
ye te panthāḥ savitaḥ pūrvyāso 'reṇavaḥ sukṛtā antarikṣe |
tebhir no adya pathibhiḥ sugebhī rakṣā ca no adhi ca brūhi deva || 11 ||
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).