Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda I.38 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Maruts, the storm-troop of heaven, sons of Rudra, who ride the winds and shake the earth. 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. What now, and in what favor, do you hold us in your two hands, as a father holds a son — us who have strewn the sacred grass?
2. Where now, to what purpose, do you go, as if from heaven, from earth? Where do your cows not rejoice?
3. Where are your newest favors, O Maruts? Where your blessings? Where all your good fortunes?
4. If you, sons of Pṛśni, were mortal, your praiser would be immortal.
5. Let your praiser not become like an unwelcome wild animal in the pasture, going down the path of Yama.
6. May destruction, hard to strike down, never seize us, again and again. May it perish, together with our thirst.
7. Truly, the shining, mighty sons of Rudra make rain without wind, even in the desert.
8. The lightning bellows like a lowing cow, following it as a mother follows her calf, when their rain is loosed.
9. Even by day they make darkness, with the water-carrying rain cloud, when they drench the earth.
10. Then at the sound of the Maruts, the whole earthly dwelling trembled, and men trembled with it.
11. O Maruts, with your firm-gripping hands, go along the bright riverbanks, with your untiring courses.
12. May your chariot-rims be firm, your chariots and their horses, and your reins well-made.
13. Call, with an extended hymn, to praise the Lord of the sacred formulation, to Agni, fair to see like a friend.
14. Shape a resounding chant in your mouth, spreading out like Parjanya; sing the gāyatra hymn worthy of praise.
15. Praise the Marut troop, the shining, admirable one worthy of song; may they, grown mighty, be here with us.
Translator's note: verse 13 names "the Lord of the sacred formulation" (brahmaṇas patim, i.e. Bṛhaspati/Brahmaṇaspati) alongside Agni; both names are kept as they appear in the Sanskrit rather than merged. Verse 14's "Parjanya" is the rain-god, named directly in the source and left untranslated as a proper name.
Colophon
Rigveda I.38 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.38
kad dha nūnaṁ kadhapriyaḥ pitā putraṁ na hastayoḥ |
dadhidhve vṛktabarhiṣaḥ || 1 ||
kva nūnaṁ kad vo arthaṁ gantā divo na pṛthivyāḥ |
kva vo gāvo na raṇyanti || 2 ||
kva vaḥ sumnā navyāṁsi marutaḥ kva suvitā |
kvo3 viśvāni saubhagā || 3 ||
yad yūyam pṛśnimātaro martāsaḥ syātana |
stotā vo amṛtaḥ syāt || 4 ||
mā vo mṛgo na yavase jaritā bhūd ajoṣyaḥ |
pathā yamasya gād upa || 5 ||
mo ṣu ṇaḥ parā-parā nirṛtir durhaṇā vadhīt |
padīṣṭa tṛṣṇayā saha || 6 ||
satyaṁ tveṣā amavanto dhanvañ cid ā rudriyāsaḥ |
mihaṁ kṛṇvanty avātām || 7 ||
vāśreva vidyun mimāti vatsaṁ na mātā siṣakti |
yad eṣāṁ vṛṣṭir asarji || 8 ||
divā cit tamaḥ kṛṇvanti parjanyenodavāhena |
yat pṛthivīṁ vyundanti || 9 ||
adha svanān marutāṁ viśvam ā sadma pārthivam |
arejanta pra mānuṣāḥ || 10 ||
maruto vīḻupāṇibhiś citrā rodhasvatīr anu |
yātem akhidrayāmabhiḥ || 11 ||
sthirā vaḥ santu nemayo rathā aśvāsa eṣām |
susaṁskṛtā abhīśavaḥ || 12 ||
acchā vadā tanā girā jarāyai brahmaṇas patim |
agnim mitraṁ na darśatam || 13 ||
mimīhi ślokam āsye parjanya iva tatanaḥ |
gāya gāyatram ukthyam || 14 ||
vandasva mārutaṁ gaṇaṁ tveṣam panasyum arkiṇam |
asme vṛddhā asann iha || 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).