Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda X.143 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. That very Atri, grown old in the sacred order — make him ready like a horse for the running, just as, once more, you make Kakṣīvant new again, like a chariot.
2. That one, like a prize-winning horse whom the dustless paths have carried onward — untie him as a tight knot is untied: untie Atri the youngest, into the open realm.
3. O most wondrous lords, O radiant ones, seek out insight for Atri's sake; then indeed, O men, your praise from heaven need not, once more, go out to settle elsewhere.
4. Known is this of you, O richly-giving Aśvins — your gift, your good will — when you, O men, carry us across to the broad seat, to the shared gathering.
5. You two went to Bhujyu, tossed about in the sea, at the far shore of the airy deep; come to him with your winged steeds, O Nāsatyas, ready to win him back.
6. Come to us with your favor, most bounteous ones, all-possessing, like those who bring us well-being; furnish us, O men, with swelling nourishment, like a spring.
Translator's note: verse 3's "stomo na viśase" (literally "the praise-song, not for entering/settling") and verse 6's "śaṁyū iva" (roughly "like those bringing peace/welfare") are compact and somewhat opaque phrases; they are rendered conservatively above rather than resolved with confidence. Verse 2's "ā rajaḥ" ("into the [airy] realm") is likewise kept literal rather than elaborated.
Colophon
Rigveda X.143 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.143
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.
tyaṁ cid atrim ṛtajuram artham aśvaṁ na yātave |
kakṣīvantaṁ yadī punā rathaṁ na kṛṇutho navam || 1 ||
tyaṁ cid aśvaṁ na vājinam areṇavo yam atnata |
dṛḻhaṁ granthiṁ na vi ṣyatam atriṁ yaviṣṭham ā rajaḥ || 2 ||
narā daṁsiṣṭhāv atraye śubhrā siṣāsataṁ dhiyaḥ |
athā hi vāṁ divo narā punaḥ stomo na viśase || 3 ||
cite tad vāṁ surādhasā rātiḥ sumatir aśvinā |
ā yan naḥ sadane pṛthau samane parṣatho narā || 4 ||
yuvam bhujyuṁ samudra ā rajasaḥ pāra īṅkhitam |
yātam acchā patatribhir nāsatyā sātaye kṛtam || 5 ||
ā vāṁ sumnaiḥ śaṁyū iva maṁhiṣṭhā viśvavedasā |
sam asme bhūṣataṁ narotsaṁ na pipyuṣīr iṣaḥ || 6 ||
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).