Hymn to Rudra and Soma
Rigveda I.43 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) that turns first to Rudra — asking him, as the wise and most bounteous healer, for a blessing of well-being on people, cattle, and children — and then turns to Soma, asking for splendor, fame, and a share in strength. 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 most soothing word shall we speak, from the heart, to Rudra — the wise one, the most bounteous, the mighty?
2. So that Aditi may grant well-being to our cattle, to our people, to our cow — so that Rudra's blessing may extend to our children.
3. So that Mitra and Varuna, so that Rudra may take heed of us — so that all the gods, united in one accord, may take heed.
4. From Rudra, lord of song, lord of the sacred rite, healer with soothing medicine, we ask for that favor bringing peace and well-being.
5. He who shines bright as the sun, who gleams like gold — the best and most bountiful of the gods.
6. May he make well-being for us — for our horse, an easy path for ram and for ewe, for men, for women, for cow.
7. O Soma, bestow on us the splendor of a hundred men, great fame, abounding strength.
8. Let no afflictions besetting the soma-offering, let no ill will lead us astray. O Indu, grant us a share in the contest of strength.
9. Your offspring, O Soma, who dwell in the farthest abode of the immortal, of cosmic order — at its head, at its navel, adorning themselves, O loving Soma — grant us that store of wealth, O Soma.
Translator's note: verse 9 is dense and its imagery (the "head" and "navel" of the immortal abode, and the epithet "vena") is genuinely obscure in the Sanskrit; the rendering above is conservative and follows the words as closely as English allows rather than resolving the ambiguity by invention.
Colophon
Rigveda I.43 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.43
kad rudrāya pracetase mīḻhuṣṭamāya tavyase |
vocema śaṁtamaṁ hṛde || 1 ||
yathā no aditiḥ karat paśve nṛbhyo yathā gave |
yathā tokāya rudriyam || 2 ||
yathā no mitro varuṇo yathā rudraś ciketati |
yathā viśve sajoṣasaḥ || 3 ||
gāthapatim medhapatiṁ rudraṁ jalāṣabheṣajam |
tac chaṁyoḥ sumnam īmahe || 4 ||
yaḥ śukra iva sūryo hiraṇyam iva rocate |
śreṣṭho devānāṁ vasuḥ || 5 ||
śaṁ naḥ karaty arvate sugam meṣāya meṣye |
nṛbhyo nāribhyo gave || 6 ||
asme soma śriyam adhi ni dhehi śatasya nṛṇām |
mahi śravas tuvinṛmṇam || 7 ||
mā naḥ somaparibādho mārātayo juhuranta |
ā na indo vāje bhaja || 8 ||
yās te prajā amṛtasya parasmin dhāmann ṛtasya |
mūrdhā nābhā soma vena ābhūṣantīḥ soma vedaḥ || 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).