Hymn to Keśin, the Long-Haired Ascetic
Rigveda X.136 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. The long-haired one bears fire, the long-haired one bears poison, the long-haired one bears both world-halves. The long-haired one is all the sky to be seen; this long-haired one is called light.
2. The silent sages, girdled with wind, wear tawny, soiled garments. They follow the rushing course of the wind, once the gods have entered them.
3. Exalted by our silent discipline, we have mounted the winds. You mortals see only our bodies.
4. He flies through the mid-air, looking down on every form. The sage is set as friend to every god, for the sake of good deeds.
5. Horse of the wind, companion of Vāyu, the sage driven on by the god — he dwells in both seas, the one before and the one behind.
6. Roaming where the Apsarases, the Gandharvas, and the wild creatures roam, the long-haired one, knowing their intent, is their sweet and most intoxicating friend.
7. Vāyu churned it for him, Kunannamā ground it, when the long-haired one drank from the cup of poison together with Rudra.
Translator's note: "rodasī" (v.1) names the paired halves of the world, heaven and earth, rendered here as "world-halves." "Kunannamā" (v.7) is left untranslated as a proper name of uncertain identity — possibly a goddess or a mortar/pestle figure associated with pressing soma; the Sanskrit gives no further gloss.
Colophon
Rigveda X.136 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.136
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.
keśy a1gniṁ keśī viṣaṁ keśī bibharti rodasī |
keśī viśvaṁ svar dṛśe keśīdaṁ jyotir ucyate || 1 ||
munayo vātaraśanāḥ piśaṅgā vasate malā |
vātasyānu dhrājiṁ yanti yad devāso avikṣata || 2 ||
unmaditā mauneyena vātām̐ ā tasthimā vayam |
śarīred asmākaṁ yūyam martāso abhi paśyatha || 3 ||
antarikṣeṇa patati viśvā rūpāvacākaśat |
munir devasya-devasya saukṛtyāya sakhā hitaḥ || 4 ||
vātasyāśvo vāyoḥ sakhātho deveṣito muniḥ |
ubhau samudrāv ā kṣeti yaś ca pūrva utāparaḥ || 5 ||
apsarasāṁ gandharvāṇām mṛgāṇāṁ caraṇe caran |
keśī ketasya vidvān sakhā svādur madintamaḥ || 6 ||
vāyur asmā upāmanthat pinaṣṭi smā kunannamā |
keśī viṣasya pātreṇa yad rudreṇāpibat saha || 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).