Hymn to Pūṣan
Rigveda X.26 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. For truly our longed-for prayers go forth toward the paired steeds; may the wondrous, chariot-yoked Pūṣan, the mighty one, favor us.
2. Whose is that greatness, that fellowship with Vāta the Wind — this people knows it. The inspired poet shall win it with his hymns; he has taken note of the worth of well-sung praises.
3. He knows the well-sung praises, Pūṣan the bull, like a drop of soma; he sprinkles upon the grass, he sprinkles toward the cattle-pen.
4. May we hold you in mind, our god Pūṣan, as the one who brings our thoughts to fulfillment, and the one who spurs on the inspired poets.
5. He shares in the sacrifices, a driver of the chariots' horses, a seer whom Manu once appointed, a friend who wards off harm from the poet.
6. Husband of the one who is besought, of the bright lady, and of the bright lord, weaver of garments from the wool of ewes, he cleans and smooths the robes.
7. A mighty lord of prizes, a mighty friend of abundance, the eager one has shaken out his beard freely — he who cannot be deceived.
8. May the goats turn the pole of your chariot this way, O Pūṣan; friend of every one in need, born of old, never shaken from his place.
9. With his vigor may mighty Pūṣan favor our chariot; may he be the strengthener of our forces; may he hear this call of ours.
Translator's note: verse 1's "dasrā" is a dual form ("the two wondrous ones") set beside a singular verb governing Pūṣan alone; the line likely gestures at Pūṣan's pairing with Vāyu (named via the niyut-team, his characteristic yoked steeds) without naming Vāyu outright, so it is rendered conservatively. In verse 6, "husband of the one who is besought, of the bright lady, and of the bright lord" translates a compact set of epithets whose referents (divine spouse and companions) are not fully spelled out in the Sanskrit; the rendering keeps the ambiguity rather than assigning names not in the text.
Colophon
Rigveda X.26 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.26
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.
pra hy acchā manīṣāḥ spārhā yanti niyutaḥ |
pra dasrā niyudrathaḥ pūṣā aviṣṭu māhinaḥ || 1 ||
yasya tyan mahitvaṁ vātāpyam ayaṁ janaḥ |
vipra ā vaṁsad dhītibhiś ciketa suṣṭutīnām || 2 ||
sa veda suṣṭutīnām indur na pūṣā vṛṣā |
abhi psuraḥ pruṣāyati vrajaṁ na ā pruṣāyati || 3 ||
maṁsīmahi tvā vayam asmākaṁ deva pūṣan |
matīnāṁ ca sādhanaṁ viprāṇāṁ cādhavam || 4 ||
pratyardhir yajñānām aśvahayo rathānām |
ṛṣiḥ sa yo manurhito viprasya yāvayatsakhaḥ || 5 ||
ādhīṣamāṇāyāḥ patiḥ śucāyāś ca śucasya ca |
vāsovāyo 'vīnām ā vāsāṁsi marmṛjat || 6 ||
ino vājānām patir inaḥ puṣṭīnāṁ sakhā |
pra śmaśru haryato dūdhod vi vṛthā yo adābhyaḥ || 7 ||
ā te rathasya pūṣann ajā dhuraṁ vavṛtyuḥ |
viśvasyārthinaḥ sakhā sanojā anapacyutaḥ || 8 ||
asmākam ūrjā ratham pūṣā aviṣṭu māhinaḥ |
bhuvad vājānāṁ vṛdha imaṁ naḥ śṛṇavad dhavam || 9 ||
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).