Hymn to the Ādityas
Rigveda X.63 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. The gods who from afar seek to secure kinship, who, pleased by Manu, are the generations of Vivasvant — those who sit on the sacred grass of Yayāti, son of Nahuṣa: let them speak on our behalf.
2. For all your names, O gods, are worthy of homage, worthy of praise, and worthy of sacrifice. You who were born of Aditi, from the waters, or from the earth — hear my call here.
3. Those for whom the mother — Heaven, Aditi, firm as a mountain — swells her sweet milk, the first rich flow; strong through praise-songs, mighty as bulls, rich in good things — I exult toward those Ādityas, for our well-being.
4. Watching over men, unblinking, the gods have rightly attained great immortality. With light as their chariot, possessing serpent-like power, blameless, they dwell in the height of heaven — for our well-being.
5. The sovereign rulers who thrive well have come to the sacrifice; unyielding, they have made their dwelling in heaven. Win them over with homage and well-wrought praises — the great Ādityas and Aditi — for our well-being.
6. Who will offer you a hymn that pleases you, O all you gods of Manu, however many you are? Who, O mighty-born ones, will rightly perform the rite for you, that will carry us across trouble — for our well-being?
7. You for whom Manu, with kindled fire, first performed the office of Hotṛ with his mind, together with the seven priests — you Ādityas, grant us fearless shelter. Make our paths smooth and good — for our well-being.
8. You who rule the world, wise ones, counselors of all that stands still and all that moves — deliver us today, O gods, from sin done and undone — for our well-being.
9. In battles we call on Indra, easy to summon, the releaser from distress, and the well-doing divine folk. We call Agni, Mitra, Varuṇa for our gain, Bhaga, Heaven and Earth, and the Maruts — for our well-being.
10. May we climb aboard well-protecting Earth, flawless Heaven, Aditi of good shelter and good guidance — as upon a divine boat, well-oared, faultless, watertight — for our well-being.
11. All you worthy of worship, speak out for our help. Protect us from the harm done by the malicious one. With a true invocation let us call on you — hear us, O gods, for help, for our well-being.
12. Drive away sickness, drive away all failure to offer, drive away the malice and evil intent of the one who wishes us harm. Keep hatred far from us, O gods; grant us wide shelter — for our well-being.
13. That mortal remains unharmed and thrives in every way; he multiplies through offspring, in accord with sacred law — the one whom you Ādityas lead with good guidance across all dangers — for our well-being.
14. Whomever you gods help in the winning of strength, whomever you Maruts help in the winning of heroes when the prize is staked — may we mount that early-starting, prize-winning chariot unharmed, O Indra — for our well-being.
15. Grant us well-being on the roads, in the wastelands; well-being in the waters, in the sunlit pastures; well-being for us in the wombs that beget sons; grant well-being for wealth, O Maruts.
16. Well-being indeed is the best thing on the forward path — rich in what is gained already, it moves on toward what is good. May it protect us at home and abroad; may it come easily to us, guarded by the gods.
17. Thus the thoughtful son of Plati has magnified you, all you Ādityas, and Aditi. The ruling lords, the heavenly race, have been praised by the immortal Gaya.
Translator's note: v.4 "ahimāyāḥ" (of serpent-power / serpent-wisdom) is an obscure epithet rendered conservatively as "possessing serpent-like power" rather than resolved into a more specific claim. v.15 "svarvati" (describing the vṛjana, "enclosure/pasture") is rendered "sunlit," following its literal sense of "possessing heavenly light." v.17 names the poet as "the son of Plati" and "Gaya" (Amartya Gaya), matching the traditional attribution of this hymn.
Colophon
Rigveda X.63 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.63
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.
parāvato ye didhiṣanta āpyam manuprītāso janimā vivasvataḥ |
yayāter ye nahuṣyasya barhiṣi devā āsate te adhi bruvantu naḥ || 1 ||
viśvā hi vo namasyāni vandyā nāmāni devā uta yajñiyāni vaḥ |
ye stha jātā aditer adbhyas pari ye pṛthivyās te ma iha śrutā havam || 2 ||
yebhyo mātā madhumat pinvate payaḥ pīyūṣaṁ dyaur aditir adribarhāḥ |
ukthaśuṣmān vṛṣabharān svapnasas tām̐ ādityām̐ anu madā svastaye || 3 ||
nṛcakṣaso animiṣanto arhaṇā bṛhad devāso amṛtatvam ānaśuḥ |
jyotīrathā ahimāyā anāgaso divo varṣmāṇaṁ vasate svastaye || 4 ||
samrājo ye suvṛdho yajñam āyayur aparihvṛtā dadhire divi kṣayam |
tām̐ ā vivāsa namasā suvṛktibhir maho ādityām̐ aditiṁ svastaye || 5 ||
ko vaḥ stomaṁ rādhati yaṁ jujoṣatha viśve devāso manuṣo yati ṣṭhana |
ko vo 'dhvaraṁ tuvijātā araṁ karad yo naḥ parṣad aty aṁhaḥ svastaye || 6 ||
yebhyo hotrām prathamām āyeje manuḥ samiddhāgnir manasā sapta hotṛbhiḥ |
ta ādityā abhayaṁ śarma yacchata sugā naḥ karta supathā svastaye || 7 ||
ya īśire bhuvanasya pracetaso viśvasya sthātur jagataś ca mantavaḥ |
te naḥ kṛtād akṛtād enasas pary adyā devāsaḥ pipṛtā svastaye || 8 ||
bhareṣv indraṁ suhavaṁ havāmahe 'ṁhomucaṁ sukṛtaṁ daivyaṁ janam |
agnim mitraṁ varuṇaṁ sātaye bhagaṁ dyāvāpṛthivī marutaḥ svastaye || 9 ||
sutrāmāṇam pṛthivīṁ dyām anehasaṁ suśarmāṇam aditiṁ supraṇītim |
daivīṁ nāvaṁ svaritrām anāgasam asravantīm ā ruhemā svastaye || 10 ||
viśve yajatrā adhi vocatotaye trāyadhvaṁ no durevāyā abhihrutaḥ |
satyayā vo devahūtyā huvema śṛṇvato devā avase svastaye || 11 ||
apāmīvām apa viśvām anāhutim apārātiṁ durvidatrām aghāyataḥ |
āre devā dveṣo asmad yuyotanoru ṇaḥ śarma yacchatā svastaye || 12 ||
ariṣṭaḥ sa marto viśva edhate pra prajābhir jāyate dharmaṇas pari |
yam ādityāso nayathā sunītibhir ati viśvāni duritā svastaye || 13 ||
yaṁ devāso 'vatha vājasātau yaṁ śūrasātā maruto hite dhane |
prātaryāvāṇaṁ ratham indra sānasim ariṣyantam ā ruhemā svastaye || 14 ||
svasti naḥ pathyāsu dhanvasu svasty a1psu vṛjane svarvati |
svasti naḥ putrakṛtheṣu yoniṣu svasti rāye maruto dadhātana || 15 ||
svastir id dhi prapathe śreṣṭhā rekṇasvaty abhi yā vāmam eti |
sā no amā so araṇe ni pātu svāveśā bhavatu devagopā || 16 ||
evā plateḥ sūnur avīvṛdhad vo viśva ādityā adite manīṣī |
īśānāso naro amartyenāstāvi jano divyo gayena || 17 ||
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).