Hymn to Bṛhaspati
Rigveda X.68 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 praises Bṛhaspati, lord of sacred speech among the Aṅgiras clan, for the myth in which he breaks open the mountain-cave of the demon Vala to free the stolen cows and, with them, the dawn, the sun, and fire.
1. Like water-birds swimming and calling to one another, watchful, crying out like the roar of a rain-cloud, like waves rolling down from the mountains, rejoicing — the chants sounded out toward Bṛhaspati.
2. Bṛhaspati of the Aṅgirases, drawing near together with the cows, led them as Bhaga leads Aryaman; as Mitra anoints husband and wife among the people — so, O Bṛhaspati, you drove them on, like swift horses urged in a race for the prize.
3. The cows — well-behaved, welcoming as guests, lively, desirable, of fine color, flawless in form — Bṛhaspati, breaking through the mountains, drove out, as barley is poured out from sacks.
4. Sprinkling with honey the womb of order, hurling it down as the sun casts a meteor from the sky, Bṛhaspati, drawing the cows out of the rock, split the skin of the earth as if it were water.
5. He drove darkness with light out of the mid-region, as wind drives scum from the surface of water. Bṛhaspati, having laid hold of Vala, drove the cows home, as wind drives a cloud.
6. When Bṛhaspati broke the strength of scoffing Vala with fire-heated chants, he took what lay shut inside, as the tongue takes food with the teeth, and brought into the open the hoards of the ruddy cows.
7. Bṛhaspati knew that hidden name of theirs, the resonant ones, kept secret in their dwelling; breaking it open like the egg-shell around a bird, he himself drove the ruddy cows up out of the mountain.
8. He saw the honey shut up in the stone, like a fish lying in shallow water. Bṛhaspati drew it out, splitting the rock with a roaring cry, as one carves a cup from a tree.
9. He found the dawn, he found the sun, he found fire; with his chant he drove back the darknesses. Bṛhaspati drew the cows out of Vala, whose body was made of cows, as one draws marrow from a joint.
10. As the woods mourn their leaves stripped by frost, so Vala lamented the cows taken from him by Bṛhaspati. He did a deed no other can match, for as long as sun and moon rise in turn.
11. As one studs a dark horse with pearls, the Fathers studded the sky with stars; they set darkness in the night and light in the day. Bṛhaspati split the rock and found the cows.
12. We have made this act of homage to the thundering one, who bellows on after the many. May Bṛhaspati grant us strength — with cows, with horses, with heroes, with men.
Translator's note: "abhriyāya" (v. 12) is rendered "thundering one," an epithet linking Bṛhaspati to the rain-cloud's roar, echoing the cloud-imagery of verse 1. "Govapuṣaḥ" (v. 9), describing Vala, is rendered "whose body was made of cows" — the demon is conceived as constituted by the very herd he has swallowed.
Colophon
Rigveda X.68 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.68
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.
udapruto na vayo rakṣamāṇā vāvadato abhriyasyeva ghoṣāḥ |
giribhrajo normayo madanto bṛhaspatim abhy a1rkā anāvan || 1 ||
saṁ gobhir āṅgiraso nakṣamāṇo bhaga ived aryamaṇaṁ nināya |
jane mitro na dampatī anakti bṛhaspate vājayāśūm̐r ivājau || 2 ||
sādhvaryā atithinīr iṣirāḥ spārhāḥ suvarṇā anavadyarūpāḥ |
bṛhaspatiḥ parvatebhyo vitūryā nir gā ūpe yavam iva sthivibhyaḥ || 3 ||
āpruṣāyan madhuna ṛtasya yonim avakṣipann arka ulkām iva dyoḥ |
bṛhaspatir uddharann aśmano gā bhūmyā udneva vi tvacam bibheda || 4 ||
apa jyotiṣā tamo antarikṣād udnaḥ śīpālam iva vāta ājat |
bṛhaspatir anumṛśyā valasyābhram iva vāta ā cakra ā gāḥ || 5 ||
yadā valasya pīyato jasum bhed bṛhaspatir agnitapobhir arkaiḥ |
dadbhir na jihvā pariviṣṭam ādad āvir nidhīm̐r akṛṇod usriyāṇām || 6 ||
bṛhaspatir amata hi tyad āsāṁ nāma svarīṇāṁ sadane guhā yat |
āṇḍeva bhittvā śakunasya garbham ud usriyāḥ parvatasya tmanājat || 7 ||
aśnāpinaddham madhu pary apaśyan matsyaṁ na dīna udani kṣiyantam |
niṣ ṭaj jabhāra camasaṁ na vṛkṣād bṛhaspatir viraveṇā vikṛtya || 8 ||
soṣām avindat sa sva1ḥ so agniṁ so arkeṇa vi babādhe tamāṁsi |
bṛhaspatir govapuṣo valasya nir majjānaṁ na parvaṇo jabhāra || 9 ||
himeva parṇā muṣitā vanāni bṛhaspatinākṛpayad valo gāḥ |
anānukṛtyam apunaś cakāra yāt sūryāmāsā mitha uccarātaḥ || 10 ||
abhi śyāvaṁ na kṛśanebhir aśvaṁ nakṣatrebhiḥ pitaro dyām apiṁśan |
rātryāṁ tamo adadhur jyotir ahan bṛhaspatir bhinad adriṁ vidad gāḥ || 11 ||
idam akarma namo abhriyāya yaḥ pūrvīr anv ānonavīti |
bṛhaspatiḥ sa hi gobhiḥ so aśvaiḥ sa vīrebhiḥ sa nṛbhir no vayo dhāt || 12 ||
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).