Hymn to Yama
Rigveda X.135 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. In the tree with beautiful leaves, where Yama drinks together with the gods — there our father, the lord of our people, longs for those who went before.
2. Him, longing for the ancients, wandering along that evil path — grudgingly I watched him, yet I longed for him again.
3. O boy, the new chariot, wheelless, which you made with your mind alone — one-poled, facing every direction — unseen, you mount and ride upon it.
4. The chariot that you, boy, set rolling forth from among the inspired sages — after it the sāman-chant rolled on, gathered up and set upon a boat.
5. Who begot the boy? Who set the chariot rolling forth? Who indeed could tell us today how the debt to be repaid came about?
6. As the debt to be repaid came about, from it the tip was born; in front the base was stretched out, and behind the way out was made.
7. This is the seat of Yama, called the dwelling-place of the gods. Here his pipe is sounded; he is adorned with songs of praise.
Translator's note: this hymn is a riddle-hymn and several terms resist certainty. "Kumāra" (boy) is rendered literally throughout — the hymn appears to address a dead son journeying to Yama's realm on a chariot fashioned by thought. "Anudeyī" (verses 5–6) is a rare word meaning something like a debt, due, or portion "to be given after"; it is kept close to that literal sense rather than resolved into a single confident gloss. "Nāḷīḥ" (verse 7) is translated as "pipe," its most common sense, though the instrument is not certain.
Colophon
Rigveda X.135 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.135
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.
yasmin vṛkṣe supalāśe devaiḥ sampibate yamaḥ |
atrā no viśpatiḥ pitā purāṇām̐ anu venati || 1 ||
purāṇām̐ anuvenantaṁ carantam pāpayāmuyā |
asūyann abhy acākaśaṁ tasmā aspṛhayam punaḥ || 2 ||
yaṁ kumāra navaṁ ratham acakram manasākṛṇoḥ |
ekeṣaṁ viśvataḥ prāñcam apaśyann adhi tiṣṭhasi || 3 ||
yaṁ kumāra prāvartayo rathaṁ viprebhyas pari |
taṁ sāmānu prāvartata sam ito nāvy āhitam || 4 ||
kaḥ kumāram ajanayad rathaṁ ko nir avartayat |
kaḥ svit tad adya no brūyād anudeyī yathābhavat || 5 ||
yathābhavad anudeyī tato agram ajāyata |
purastād budhna ātataḥ paścān nirayaṇaṁ kṛtam || 6 ||
idaṁ yamasya sādanaṁ devamānaṁ yad ucyate |
iyam asya dhamyate nāḻīr ayaṁ gīrbhiḥ pariṣkṛtaḥ || 7 ||
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).