Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda X.31 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 praise of the gods come to us, worthy of worship, together with all the swift ones, for their help. With them may we become good companions; may we be those who cross over every hardship.
2. Let a mortal think carefully about wealth; by the path of truth, with reverence, let him seek to win it. And let him take counsel with his own purpose; let him grasp with his mind the better skill.
3. The vision has been set in place, the offerings poured forth; as at a river-ford, the helpers draw near the wondrous one. We have attained the strength of well-being; we have become knowers of the immortal ones.
4. May the constant one, the house-lord, the domestic friend, delight in him whom the god Savitar has brought forth — or may Bhaga with cattle, or Aryaman, anoint him; may he seem lovely to him, and so may it be.
5. May this earth become like the abode of dawns, when the wealthy ones come together with their strength. Desiring the praise of this singer, may the able gifts come near to us.
6. This favor of his, spreading wide, became like a cow of old, vast in extent. His kindred are in the womb of the mighty one, carried together in the same bearing.
7. What indeed was the wood, and what was that tree, from which they carved out heaven and earth — the two that stand together, unaging, ever in motion, while many days and dawns grow old?
8. There is nothing else beyond this measure; that bull sustains heaven and earth. The self-powerful one makes his own hide a purifying sieve, when the tawny horses carry him as they carry the sun.
9. Like one who moves unseen he passes over the broad earth; as the wind scatters the mist, he blows across the ground. There, being anointed, he is Mitra and Varuṇa; like Agni in the forest he lets his flame loose.
10. When the barren cow, being adorned, gave birth suddenly — unsteady, she made herself steady, her own guardian. When the son was born before his two parents, the cow swallowed the peg — if one should ask about it.
11. And they call Kaṇva the son of Nṛṣad; and Śyāva the vigorous one took the prize. The bright udder swelled forth for Kṛṣṇa the dark one — yet no one here has made the truth swell forth for him.
Translator's note: several words in this hymn resist certain rendering. Verse 7's "itaūtī" (here "ever in motion") is an obscure compound whose sense is disputed. Verse 9's "stego" (here "one who moves unseen") may relate to stealth or to climbing/striding; the image is kept deliberately plain rather than resolved by guesswork. Verse 11's closing clause ("apīpet," here "made the truth swell forth") is a rare causative form whose exact force is uncertain; the literal image of swelling, echoing the udder of the same verse, is preserved rather than smoothed into a more familiar idiom.
Colophon
Rigveda X.31 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.31
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 no devānām upa vetu śaṁso viśvebhis turair avase yajatraḥ |
tebhir vayaṁ suṣakhāyo bhavema taranto viśvā duritā syāma || 1 ||
pari cin marto draviṇam mamanyād ṛtasya pathā namasā vivāset |
uta svena kratunā saṁ vadeta śreyāṁsaṁ dakṣam manasā jagṛbhyāt || 2 ||
adhāyi dhītir asasṛgram aṁśās tīrthe na dasmam upa yanty ūmāḥ |
abhy ānaśma suvitasya śūṣaṁ navedaso amṛtānām abhūma || 3 ||
nityaś cākanyāt svapatir damūnā yasmā u devaḥ savitā jajāna |
bhago vā gobhir aryamem anajyāt so asmai cāruś chadayad uta syāt || 4 ||
iyaṁ sā bhūyā uṣasām iva kṣā yad dha kṣumantaḥ śavasā samāyan |
asya stutiṁ jaritur bhikṣamāṇā ā naḥ śagmāsa upa yantu vājāḥ || 5 ||
asyed eṣā sumatiḥ paprathānābhavat pūrvyā bhūmanā gauḥ |
asya sanīḻā asurasya yonau samāna ā bharaṇe bibhramāṇāḥ || 6 ||
kiṁ svid vanaṁ ka u sa vṛkṣa āsa yato dyāvāpṛthivī niṣṭatakṣuḥ |
saṁtasthāne ajare itaūtī ahāni pūrvīr uṣaso jaranta || 7 ||
naitāvad enā paro anyad asty ukṣā sa dyāvāpṛthivī bibharti |
tvacam pavitraṁ kṛṇuta svadhāvān yad īṁ sūryaṁ na harito vahanti || 8 ||
stego na kṣām aty eti pṛthvīm mihaṁ na vāto vi ha vāti bhūma |
mitro yatra varuṇo ajyamāno 'gnir vane na vy asṛṣṭa śokam || 9 ||
starīr yat sūta sadyo ajyamānā vyathir avyathīḥ kṛṇuta svagopā |
putro yat pūrvaḥ pitror janiṣṭa śamyāṁ gaur jagāra yad dha pṛcchān || 10 ||
uta kaṇvaṁ nṛṣadaḥ putram āhur uta śyāvo dhanam ādatta vājī |
pra kṛṣṇāya ruśad apinvatodhar ṛtam atra nakir asmā apīpet || 11 ||
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).