Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda I.46 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Aśvins, the twin divine horsemen, healers of the gods and bringers of dawn. 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 unprecedented dawn shines forth, dear daughter of heaven. I praise you two loudly, O Aśvins.
2. You two wondrous ones, whose mother is the flood, devisers of riches — gods who find treasure through insight.
3. Your lofty ones surge on over the worn expanse, when your chariot flies along with the birds.
4. The lover of the waters, the filler, satisfies with the oblation, O heroes — the father, the watcher of the vessel.
5. Mindful of our hymns, O Nāsatyas, you two whose speech matches thought — drink boldly of the soma.
6. That luminous refreshment which would carry us across the darkness, O Aśvins — grant it to us.
7. Come to us with the boat of our hymns, to cross to the far shore; yoke your chariot, O Aśvins.
8. Your broad oar of heaven is your chariot, at the ford of the rivers; by insight the soma-drops have yoked themselves.
9. The Kaṇvas' drops from heaven, the treasure, are at the place of the rivers — where will you two set your own covering?
10. Light has come for the soma-stalk, golden, facing the sun; the dark one has shone out with his tongue.
11. A path has come to be, to go to the far shore, truly, by the straight course of ṛta; the outflowing path of heaven has been seen.
12. Just that favor of the two Aśvins does the singer attend to, in the exhilaration of the soma of the two who satisfy.
13. Shining bright, for the drinking of soma, with song — come, you two bringers of well-being, as you came for Manu.
14. Dawn moves in accordance with the splendor of you two who travel about; you two truly win her, with the nights.
15. Drink, both of you, O Aśvins; grant us both shelter, with your unfailing help.
Translator's note: Verses 4, 9, and 10 are among the most obscure in the hymn. Verse 4's "lover of the waters... father, watcher of the vessel" and verse 10's "dark one" who "shone out with his tongue" describe the soma-plant and its pressing in riddling, elliptical language whose precise referents are debated; they are rendered here as literally as the Sanskrit allows rather than resolved into a confident paraphrase. Verse 9's "covering" (vavri) likewise resists a single certain sense.
Colophon
Rigveda I.46 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.46
eṣo uṣā apūrvyā vy ucchati priyā divaḥ |
stuṣe vām aśvinā bṛhat || 1 ||
yā dasrā sindhumātarā manotarā rayīṇām |
dhiyā devā vasuvidā || 2 ||
vacyante vāṁ kakuhāso jūrṇāyām adhi viṣṭapi |
yad vāṁ ratho vibhiṣ patāt || 3 ||
haviṣā jāro apām piparti papurir narā |
pitā kuṭasya carṣaṇiḥ || 4 ||
ādāro vām matīnāṁ nāsatyā matavacasā |
pātaṁ somasya dhṛṣṇuyā || 5 ||
yā naḥ pīparad aśvinā jyotiṣmatī tamas tiraḥ |
tām asme rāsāthām iṣam || 6 ||
ā no nāvā matīnāṁ yātam pārāya gantave |
yuñjāthām aśvinā ratham || 7 ||
aritraṁ vāṁ divas pṛthu tīrthe sindhūnāṁ rathaḥ |
dhiyā yuyujra indavaḥ || 8 ||
divas kaṇvāsa indavo vasu sindhūnām pade |
svaṁ vavriṁ kuha dhitsathaḥ || 9 ||
abhūd u bhā u aṁśave hiraṇyam prati sūryaḥ |
vy akhyaj jihvayāsitaḥ || 10 ||
abhūd u pāram etave panthā ṛtasya sādhuyā |
adarśi vi srutir divaḥ || 11 ||
tat-tad id aśvinor avo jaritā prati bhūṣati |
made somasya pipratoḥ || 12 ||
vāvasānā vivasvati somasya pītyā girā |
manuṣvac chambhū ā gatam || 13 ||
yuvor uṣā anu śriyam parijmanor upācarat |
ṛtā vanatho aktubhiḥ || 14 ||
ubhā pibatam aśvinobhā naḥ śarma yacchatam |
avidriyābhir ūtibhiḥ || 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).