For the Protection of Cattle
Rigveda X.169 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. Let the joy-bringing wind blow upon the ruddy cows; let them graze on the vigorous, nourishing plants. Let them drink the rich, life-giving waters. Be gracious, O Rudra, toward the four-footed ones — grant them your protection.
2. Those cows that are alike in form, unlike in form, or all of a single form, whose names Agni knows through the rite of worship; those which the Aṅgirases brought forth here through their heat of devotion — to them, O Parjanya, grant great shelter.
3. Those that gave their bodies among the gods, whose every shape Soma knows — grant them to us, O Indra, swelling with milk, rich in young, into our cattle-pen.
4. Prajāpati, granting these to me, in accord with all the gods and with the ancestors, has kindly driven them to our cattle-pen. May we, together with our offspring, dwell in peace beside them.
Translator's note: "rirīhi" (verse 3) is a difficult verb form, rendered here conservatively as "grant"; its precise sense (a form connected with "release" or "bestow") is not fully certain. "Aṅgirasas" (verse 2) refers to the Aṅgiras lineage of ancient sages/priests, kept untranslated as a proper name.
Colophon
Rigveda X.169 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.169
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.
mayobhūr vāto abhi vātūsrā ūrjasvatīr oṣadhīr ā riśantām |
pīvasvatīr jīvadhanyāḥ pibantv avasāya padvate rudra mṛḻa || 1 ||
yāḥ sarūpā virūpā ekarūpā yāsām agnir iṣṭyā nāmāni veda |
yā aṅgirasas tapaseha cakrus tābhyaḥ parjanya mahi śarma yaccha || 2 ||
yā deveṣu tanva1m airayanta yāsāṁ somo viśvā rūpāṇi veda |
tā asmabhyam payasā pinvamānāḥ prajāvatīr indra goṣṭhe rirīhi || 3 ||
prajāpatir mahyam etā rarāṇo viśvair devaiḥ pitṛbhiḥ saṁvidānaḥ |
śivāḥ satīr upa no goṣṭham ākas tāsāṁ vayam prajayā saṁ sadema || 4 ||
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).