Hymn for Conception
Rigveda X.184 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. Its three verses call on Viṣṇu, Tvaṣṭar, Prajāpati, Sinīvālī, Sarasvatī, and the Aśvins in turn to shape and place an embryo, asking for its safe delivery in the tenth month.
1. Let Viṣṇu shape the womb, let Tvaṣṭar fashion the forms. Let Prajāpati pour in, let Dhātṛ place the embryo in you.
2. Place the embryo, Sinīvālī. Place the embryo, Sarasvatī. May the two divine Aśvins, wearers of lotus garlands, place the embryo in you.
3. The embryo that the Aśvins kindle forth from the two golden fire-sticks — that embryo we call into you, for delivery in the tenth month.
Translator's note: verse 1 names three or four agents in close succession (Viṣṇu, Tvaṣṭar, Prajāpati, and Dhātṛ, "the Establisher" — possibly an epithet of Prajāpati rather than a separate figure); the Sanskrit leaves this open, and the translation preserves the ambiguity rather than resolving it. "Golden fire-sticks" (hiraṇyayī araṇī) renders the two kindling-sticks used to produce ritual fire by friction, here used as an image for the Aśvins bringing forth the embryo.
Colophon
Rigveda X.184 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.184
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.
viṣṇur yoniṁ kalpayatu tvaṣṭā rūpāṇi piṁśatu |
ā siñcatu prajāpatir dhātā garbhaṁ dadhātu te || 1 ||
garbhaṁ dhehi sinīvāli garbhaṁ dhehi sarasvati |
garbhaṁ te aśvinau devāv ā dhattām puṣkarasrajā || 2 ||
hiraṇyayī araṇī yaṁ nirmanthato aśvinā |
taṁ te garbhaṁ havāmahe daśame māsi sūtave || 3 ||
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).