Hymn to Vena
Rigveda X.123 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.
1. This Vena impels the dapple-wombed ones, whose birth-caul is light, in the shaping-out of the realm of space. At the meeting of the waters and the sun, the inspired poets lick this one, as if he were a child, with their hymns.
2. Vena, born of the cloud, raises a wave up from the ocean; the back of the desired one is seen. He gleams above, on the ridge of truth, in the high vault; the many throngs cried out together toward the one common womb.
3. Many, lowing as one toward the same place, the mothers of the calf stood together, dwelling in one stall. Striding upon the ridge of truth, they lick the voices of the sweet immortal drink.
4. Knowing his form, the inspired poets longed for it; they went toward the roar of the wild buffalo. Going by the path of truth, they stood upon the river; the Gandharva found the undying names.
5. The Apsaras, the maiden, smiling at her lover, carries him in the highest heaven. He wanders in the wombs of the dear one, himself beloved; he settles on a golden wing — this Vena.
6. When you were flying, an eagle in the vault of heaven, they beheld you with a longing heart — the gold-winged messenger of Varuṇa, the swift bird in the dwelling of Yama.
7. The Gandharva stood upright in the vault of heaven, facing outward, bearing his bright weapons, clad in a fragrant garment, lovely to see. Like the sun, he brought forth his own dear names from himself.
8. As the drop goes toward the ocean, seeing with the eye of a vulture along its established course, the radiance, delighting in its bright flame, shaped its dear names in the third region.
Translator's note: this hymn is famously compressed and elliptical even in Sanskrit; several nouns (notably "vāṇīḥ" in verse 3 and "nāma" implied in verse 8) function ambiguously between "voice/speech," "name," and "form." The renderings above follow the most literal sense of each word rather than smoothing the hymn's riddling style.
Colophon
Rigveda X.123 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda X.123
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.
ayaṁ venaś codayat pṛśnigarbhā jyotirjarāyū rajaso vimāne |
imam apāṁ saṁgame sūryasya śiśuṁ na viprā matibhī rihanti || 1 ||
samudrād ūrmim ud iyarti veno nabhojāḥ pṛṣṭhaṁ haryatasya darśi |
ṛtasya sānāv adhi viṣṭapi bhrāṭ samānaṁ yonim abhy anūṣata vrāḥ || 2 ||
samānam pūrvīr abhi vāvaśānās tiṣṭhan vatsasya mātaraḥ sanīḻāḥ |
ṛtasya sānāv adhi cakramāṇā rihanti madhvo amṛtasya vāṇīḥ || 3 ||
jānanto rūpam akṛpanta viprā mṛgasya ghoṣam mahiṣasya hi gman |
ṛtena yanto adhi sindhum asthur vidad gandharvo amṛtāni nāma || 4 ||
apsarā jāram upasiṣmiyāṇā yoṣā bibharti parame vyoman |
carat priyasya yoniṣu priyaḥ san sīdat pakṣe hiraṇyaye sa venaḥ || 5 ||
nāke suparṇam upa yat patantaṁ hṛdā venanto abhy acakṣata tvā |
hiraṇyapakṣaṁ varuṇasya dūtaṁ yamasya yonau śakunam bhuraṇyum || 6 ||
ūrdhvo gandharvo adhi nāke asthāt pratyaṅ citrā bibhrad asyāyudhāni |
vasāno atkaṁ surabhiṁ dṛśe kaṁ sva1r ṇa nāma janata priyāṇi || 7 ||
drapsaḥ samudram abhi yaj jigāti paśyan gṛdhrasya cakṣasā vidharman |
bhānuḥ śukreṇa śociṣā cakānas tṛtīye cakre rajasi priyāṇi || 8 ||
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).