Hymn for the Installation of a King
Rigveda X.173 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. The hymn belongs to a short pair (with X.174) recited at the consecration of a king, and addresses the king himself with the recurring word dhruva, "firm, steadfast."
1. I have brought you here — remain among us. Stand firm, unwavering. Let all the clans desire you; let the kingdom not slip away from you.
2. Be right here, do not depart, unwavering like a mountain. Stand firm here like Indra; hold the kingdom here.
3. Indra has made this one firm, firm with a firm offering. For him let Soma speak out, and for him Brahmaṇaspati.
4. Firm is heaven, firm is earth, firm are these mountains. Firm is this whole moving world; firm is this king of the clans.
5. Firm for you — let King Varuṇa make it so, firm — let the god Bṛhaspati make it so. Firm — let Indra and Agni hold your kingdom firm.
6. Firm, with a firm offering, we touch the soma. And now let Indra make the clans, all of them, bring their tribute to you alone.
Translator's note: the repeated dhruva ("firm, steadfast") is the hymn's organizing word and has been rendered consistently throughout rather than varied for style, to keep its ritual repetition visible in English.
Colophon
Rigveda X.173 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.173
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.
ā tvāhārṣam antar edhi dhruvas tiṣṭhāvicācaliḥ |
viśas tvā sarvā vāñchantu mā tvad rāṣṭram adhi bhraśat || 1 ||
ihaivaidhi māpa cyoṣṭhāḥ parvata ivāvicācaliḥ |
indra iveha dhruvas tiṣṭheha rāṣṭram u dhāraya || 2 ||
imam indro adīdharad dhruvaṁ dhruveṇa haviṣā |
tasmai somo adhi bravat tasmā u brahmaṇas patiḥ || 3 ||
dhruvā dyaur dhruvā pṛthivī dhruvāsaḥ parvatā ime |
dhruvaṁ viśvam idaṁ jagad dhruvo rājā viśām ayam || 4 ||
dhruvaṁ te rājā varuṇo dhruvaṁ devo bṛhaspatiḥ |
dhruvaṁ ta indraś cāgniś ca rāṣṭraṁ dhārayatāṁ dhruvam || 5 ||
dhruvaṁ dhruveṇa haviṣābhi somam mṛśāmasi |
atho ta indraḥ kevalīr viśo balihṛtas karat || 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).