Hymn to Prajāpati (Hiraṇyagarbha)
Rigveda X.121 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension. Known as the Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta, the hymn circles a single question — "to what god shall we offer oblation?" — through nine verses describing an unnamed creator, before naming him directly as Prajāpati in the closing verse.
1. The golden embryo arose in the beginning; once born, he was the one lord of all that came to be. He held in place this earth and that sky. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
2. Who gives breath, who gives strength, whose command all beings — even the gods — obey; whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
3. Who by his greatness became sole king of the breathing, blinking world, who rules over its creatures of two feet and four. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
4. His, by his greatness, are these snow-mountains; his, they say, is the ocean together with the Rasā river; his are these directions of space, his are their farthest reaches. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
5. By whom the mighty sky and the firm earth stand, by whom the sun was propped up, by whom the vault of heaven; who measured out the middle air. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
6. On whom the two clashing worlds, held steady by his help, looked with trembling spirit; over whom, once risen, the sun shines. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
7. When the vast waters came, bearing the universal seed, bringing forth Agni, then arose the one life-breath of the gods. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
8. He who by his greatness looked out over the waters as they bore power and brought forth sacrifice, who was the one god above the gods. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
9. May he not harm us — he who fathered the earth, or he of true law who created the sky, and who created the bright, vast waters. To what god shall we offer with oblation?
10. O Prajāpati, no other than you has encompassed all these created things. Whatever we desire in offering to you, may that be ours: may we become lords of riches.
Translator's note: "krandasī" in verse 6 (literally "the two crying/warring ones") is the traditional epithet for heaven and earth pictured as contending forces, rendered here as "the two clashing worlds." "Rasā" in verse 4 is a mythical river marking the edge of the world, kept as a proper name.
Colophon
Rigveda X.121 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 X.121
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
hiraṇyagarbhaḥ sam avartatāgre bhūtasya jātaḥ patir eka āsīt |
sa dādhāra pṛthivīṁ dyām utemāṁ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 1 ||
ya ātmadā baladā yasya viśva upāsate praśiṣaṁ yasya devāḥ |
yasya chāyāmṛtaṁ yasya mṛtyuḥ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 2 ||
yaḥ prāṇato nimiṣato mahitvaika id rājā jagato babhūva |
ya īśe asya dvipadaś catuṣpadaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 3 ||
yasyeme himavanto mahitvā yasya samudraṁ rasayā sahāhuḥ |
yasyemāḥ pradiśo yasya bāhū kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 4 ||
yena dyaur ugrā pṛthivī ca dṛḻhā yena svaḥ stabhitaṁ yena nākaḥ |
yo antarikṣe rajaso vimānaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 5 ||
yaṁ krandasī avasā tastabhāne abhy aikṣetām manasā rejamāne |
yatrādhi sūra udito vibhāti kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 6 ||
āpo ha yad bṛhatīr viśvam āyan garbhaṁ dadhānā janayantīr agnim |
tato devānāṁ sam avartatāsur ekaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 7 ||
yaś cid āpo mahinā paryapaśyad dakṣaṁ dadhānā janayantīr yajñam |
yo deveṣv adhi deva eka āsīt kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 8 ||
mā no hiṁsīj janitā yaḥ pṛthivyā yo vā divaṁ satyadharmā jajāna |
yaś cāpaś candrā bṛhatīr jajāna kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema || 9 ||
prajāpate na tvad etāny anyo viśvā jātāni pari tā babhūva |
yatkāmās te juhumas tan no astu vayaṁ syāma patayo rayīṇām || 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).