Hymn to the Viśvedevas (All the Gods)
Rigveda I.89 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to the Viśvedevas, the "All-Gods," a class of Vedic deities invoked collectively rather than singly. The hymn calls in turn on Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, Aditi, Indra, Pūṣan, the Maruts, the Aśvins, Bṛhaspati, and others, asking for protection, right thinking, and a full span of life. 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. Let good and undeceived intentions come to us from every side, unobstructed, bursting forth, so that the gods may always be for our increase, protectors who do not turn away, day after day.
2. May the gracious favor of the gods come to us straight; may the gift-giving of the gods turn toward us. We have drawn near to the friendship of the gods. May the gods extend our lifespan, so that we may live.
3. With the ancient invocation we call upon them — Bhaga, Mitra, Aditi, unfailing Dakṣa, Aryaman, Varuṇa, Soma, the two Aśvins; may fortunate Sarasvatī grant us joy.
4. May the wind blow us that healing remedy, delightful to us; may mother Earth bring it, and father Sky; may the soma-pressing stones, delightful, bring it; hear this, you two attentive Aśvins.
5. We call upon him for help — the ruling lord of all that moves and all that stands still, who quickens thought — so that Pūṣan may work for the increase of our goods, a guardian, an unharmed protector, for our well-being.
6. May Indra of far-famed glory grant us well-being; may Pūṣan, who knows all things, grant us well-being; may Tārkṣya of the unharmed wheel-rim grant us well-being; may Bṛhaspati grant us well-being.
7. The Maruts, with dappled horses, whose mother is Pṛśni, moving in splendor, arriving at the sacred gatherings, with Agni as their tongue, wise, with the sun as their eye — may all the gods come here to us with their help.
8. May we hear what is good with our ears, O gods; may we see what is good with our eyes, O venerable ones; with firm limbs and bodies that have offered you praise, may we reach the full lifespan set by the gods.
9. A hundred autumns are near at hand, O gods, in which you have set old age for our bodies — in which sons become fathers in their turn. Let nothing do us harm in the middle of that course of life.
10. Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the mid-space, Aditi is the mother, she is the father, she is the son. Aditi is all the gods, Aditi is the five peoples. Aditi is what has been born, Aditi is what is yet to be born.
Translator's note: "pañca janā" in verse 10 (literally "five peoples") is a standard Vedic phrase for the whole of humanity, traditionally read as the five tribes/clans of the Ṛgvedic world; it is rendered here in its plain sense rather than resolved to any specific list of names.
Colophon
Rigveda I.89 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.89
ā no bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvato 'dabdhāso aparītāsa udbhidaḥ |
devā no yathā sadam id vṛdhe asann aprāyuvo rakṣitāro dive-dive || 1 ||
devānām bhadrā sumatir ṛjūyatāṁ devānāṁ rātir abhi no ni vartatām |
devānāṁ sakhyam upa sedimā vayaṁ devā na āyuḥ pra tirantu jīvase || 2 ||
tān pūrvayā nividā hūmahe vayam bhagam mitram aditiṁ dakṣam asridham |
aryamaṇaṁ varuṇaṁ somam aśvinā sarasvatī naḥ subhagā mayas karat || 3 ||
tan no vāto mayobhu vātu bheṣajaṁ tan mātā pṛthivī tat pitā dyauḥ |
tad grāvāṇaḥ somasuto mayobhuvas tad aśvinā śṛṇutaṁ dhiṣṇyā yuvam || 4 ||
tam īśānaṁ jagatas tasthuṣas patiṁ dhiyaṁjinvam avase hūmahe vayam |
pūṣā no yathā vedasām asad vṛdhe rakṣitā pāyur adabdhaḥ svastaye || 5 ||
svasti na indro vṛddhaśravāḥ svasti naḥ pūṣā viśvavedāḥ |
svasti nas tārkṣyo ariṣṭanemiḥ svasti no bṛhaspatir dadhātu || 6 ||
pṛṣadaśvā marutaḥ pṛśnimātaraḥ śubhaṁyāvāno vidatheṣu jagmayaḥ |
agnijihvā manavaḥ sūracakṣaso viśve no devā avasā gamann iha || 7 ||
bhadraṁ karṇebhiḥ śṛṇuyāma devā bhadram paśyemākṣabhir yajatrāḥ |
sthirair aṅgais tuṣṭuvāṁsas tanūbhir vy aśema devahitaṁ yad āyuḥ || 8 ||
śatam in nu śarado anti devā yatrā naś cakrā jarasaṁ tanūnām |
putrāso yatra pitaro bhavanti mā no madhyā rīriṣatāyur gantoḥ || 9 ||
aditir dyaur aditir antarikṣam aditir mātā sa pitā sa putraḥ |
viśve devā aditiḥ pañca janā aditir jātam aditir janitvam || 10 ||
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).