Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda I.37 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Maruts, the troop of storm gods, sons of Rudra and companions of Indra, called upon here by the Kaṇva clan of seers to be sung and praised. 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. Sing forth, O Kaṇvas, to your sportive troop of Maruts, unopposed, splendid in their chariots.
2. They who were born self-luminous, together with their dappled mares, their spears, their axes, and their ornaments.
3. Here, as it were, the whip in their hands is heard as it cracks; on their course they display a wondrous brilliance.
4. Sing forth the god-given hymn to your exultant troop, of flashing splendor, of powerful might.
5. Praise the sportive Marut troop — unassailable, as among cows — which has grown strong in the jaws of the sap.
6. Who among you, O heroes, shakers of heaven and earth, is the mightiest, when you shake the world as if to its very edge?
7. Mankind has bowed before your onrush, before your fierce fury; the rocky mountain has given way.
8. In whose onrush the earth trembles with fear on their courses, like an aged clan-lord.
9. Firm indeed is the vigor of their birth, from the mother, to go forth, when their might follows it in twofold measure.
10. Those sons have surged up to the farthest regions in their courses, roaring like cattle, bending the knee as they travel.
11. Even that long, broad, unfailing offspring of the mist-cloud they shake loose with their onrushes.
12. O Maruts, with your strength you have shaken the peoples; you have shaken the mountains.
13. When the Maruts travel, they speak together on the road; one among them listens.
14. Come forth swiftly with your swift steeds; there is homage for you among the Kaṇvas — there rejoice well.
15. There is indeed [drink] for your exhilaration; we are indeed devoted to them, to live out our whole lifetime.
Translator's note: several phrases resist certainty. Verse 5's "goṣv aghnyam" (literally "inviolable among cows") is a stock epithet whose exact application to the Marut troop is ambiguous; rendered conservatively. Verse 9 ("sthiraṁ jānam...mātur niretave...anu dvitā śavaḥ") is syntactically compressed and its precise sense — likely describing the Maruts' birth-vigor from their mother Pṛśni — is uncertain; rendered literally rather than resolved. Verse 10's "kāṣṭhāḥ" (regions/quarters of space) and verse 11's "mihaḥ napātam" (offspring of the mist/cloud, likely a kenning for a mountain or storm-cloud) are kept close to the Sanskrit rather than interpreted further. Verse 15's bracketed "[drink]" supplies an implied object (likely soma) not stated outright in "madāya."
Colophon
Rigveda I.37 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.37
krīḻaṁ vaḥ śardho mārutam anarvāṇaṁ ratheśubham |
kaṇvā abhi pra gāyata || 1 ||
ye pṛṣatībhir ṛṣṭibhiḥ sākaṁ vāśībhir añjibhiḥ |
ajāyanta svabhānavaḥ || 2 ||
iheva śṛṇva eṣāṁ kaśā hasteṣu yad vadān |
ni yāmañ citram ṛñjate || 3 ||
pra vaḥ śardhāya ghṛṣvaye tveṣadyumnāya śuṣmiṇe |
devattam brahma gāyata || 4 ||
pra śaṁsā goṣv aghnyaṁ krīḻaṁ yac chardho mārutam |
jambhe rasasya vāvṛdhe || 5 ||
ko vo varṣiṣṭha ā naro divaś ca gmaś ca dhūtayaḥ |
yat sīm antaṁ na dhūnutha || 6 ||
ni vo yāmāya mānuṣo dadhra ugrāya manyave |
jihīta parvato giriḥ || 7 ||
yeṣām ajmeṣu pṛthivī jujurvām̐ iva viśpatiḥ |
bhiyā yāmeṣu rejate || 8 ||
sthiraṁ hi jānam eṣāṁ vayo mātur niretave |
yat sīm anu dvitā śavaḥ || 9 ||
ud u tye sūnavo giraḥ kāṣṭhā ajmeṣv atnata |
vāśrā abhijñu yātave || 10 ||
tyaṁ cid ghā dīrgham pṛthum miho napātam amṛdhram |
pra cyāvayanti yāmabhiḥ || 11 ||
maruto yad dha vo balaṁ janām̐ acucyavītana |
girīm̐r acucyavītana || 12 ||
yad dha yānti marutaḥ saṁ ha bruvate 'dhvann ā |
śṛṇoti kaś cid eṣām || 13 ||
pra yāta śībham āśubhiḥ santi kaṇveṣu vo duvaḥ |
tatro ṣu mādayādhvai || 14 ||
asti hi ṣmā madāya vaḥ smasi ṣmā vayam eṣām |
viśvaṁ cid āyur jīvase || 15 ||
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).