Hymn to the All-Gods (Viśvedevāḥ)
Rigveda X.92 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. We call to mind for you the charioteer of the sacrifice, lord of the clans, the invoking priest of the people, the guest of night, rich in light: blazing among the dry tawny fuel-sticks, flickering, the bull, the banner, the worshipful one, has stretched himself to heaven.
2. Both parties, gods and men, made this one — drinker of the oil, upholder of the sacred order, Agni, accomplisher of the sacrificial gathering — like the mighty night, set before the dawns, self-born; the dawns kiss the ruddy one.
3. We clearly tell his guidance apart from the miser's. His kindled branches are laid out for eating. When the fearsome ones won immortality, then indeed they made known the divine race.
4. For the wide expanse of heaven is the bond of truth; homage to great and wondrous Devotion. Indra, Mitra, and Varuṇa have perceived it together, and so have Bhaga and Savitar, of purified skill.
5. The rivers go forth with Rudra the wanderer; they have run across the great one. By them the encircling one, going his wide course, bellowing in his belly, moistens all things.
6. The Rudras, the Maruts, active, known to every people, hawks of heaven, broods of the Asura — by them Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, and Indra keep watch, swift among the swift gods.
7. The toiling ones have found their reward in Indra — in the sun's sight and in the bull's manly strength — those craftsmen who fashioned his fitting gift, the mace that rides beside him, in the assemblies of men.
8. Even the sun's tawny steeds he reined in, as his own. Who does not fear Indra, mightier than all? From the roaring belly of the fearsome bull, day after day, the unconquered victor thunders.
9. Offer today, with homage, your hymn of praise to Rudra the skillful, ruler of heroes — he who, kindly, self-sustaining, self-glorious, keeps company through heaven with those who go their eager way.
10. They indeed spread their fame through their offspring — Bṛhaspati the bull, and the kin of Soma. Through sacrifices, Atharvan the first established it; the gods, by their skill, and the Bhṛgus, perceived it together.
11. They indeed are worthy: Heaven and Earth, of abundant seed; Narāśaṃsa the fourfold; Yama; Aditi; the god Tvaṣṭar, giver of wealth; the lord of the Ṛbhus; Rodasī; the Maruts; and Viṣṇu.
12. And may that far-seeing sage of our devout ones hear at our call; may Ahi Budhnya listen to the invocation. May Sun and Moon, wandering, dwelling in heaven, by their wisdom take notice of this, together with ritual labor and with humankind.
13. May Pūṣan, who belongs to all the gods, further our journey; may the Child of Waters and Vāyu protect us, for our wish to be fulfilled. Sing to Vāta for our own well-being; may that be heard by the Aśvins, easy to call, on their journey.
14. With hymns we praise the self-glorious one who rules over these fearless clans; and, with all the divine wives, Aditi the unassailable, and the youthful lord of night, manly-minded.
15. Here the Aṅgiras, foremost by birth, sang aloud; the raised pressing-stones look up toward the rite. By these he became vast and far-seeing — the well-founded path, where the axe seeks its due.
Translator's note: Verse 12's "nahuṣī" and verse 15's closing image ("svadhitir vananvati," the axe and its due) are compressed and disputed; both are rendered conservatively here, keeping the literal sense of the Sanskrit rather than smoothing it into a confident paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda X.92 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.92
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.
yajñasya vo rathyaṁ viśpatiṁ viśāṁ hotāram aktor atithiṁ vibhāvasum |
śocañ chuṣkāsu hariṇīṣu jarbhurad vṛṣā ketur yajato dyām aśāyata || 1 ||
imam añjaspām ubhaye akṛṇvata dharmāṇam agniṁ vidathasya sādhanam |
aktuṁ na yahvam uṣasaḥ purohitaṁ tanūnapātam aruṣasya niṁsate || 2 ||
baḻ asya nīthā vi paṇeś ca manmahe vayā asya prahutā āsur attave |
yadā ghorāso amṛtatvam āśatād ij janasya daivyasya carkiran || 3 ||
ṛtasya hi prasitir dyaur uru vyaco namo mahy a1ramatiḥ panīyasī |
indro mitro varuṇaḥ saṁ cikitrire 'tho bhagaḥ savitā pūtadakṣasaḥ || 4 ||
pra rudreṇa yayinā yanti sindhavas tiro mahīm aramatiṁ dadhanvire |
yebhiḥ parijmā pariyann uru jrayo vi roruvaj jaṭhare viśvam ukṣate || 5 ||
krāṇā rudrā maruto viśvakṛṣṭayo divaḥ śyenāso asurasya nīḻayaḥ |
tebhiś caṣṭe varuṇo mitro aryamendro devebhir arvaśebhir arvaśaḥ || 6 ||
indre bhujaṁ śaśamānāsa āśata sūro dṛśīke vṛṣaṇaś ca pauṁsye |
pra ye nv asyārhaṇā tatakṣire yujaṁ vajraṁ nṛṣadaneṣu kāravaḥ || 7 ||
sūraś cid ā harito asya rīramad indrād ā kaś cid bhayate tavīyasaḥ |
bhīmasya vṛṣṇo jaṭharād abhiśvasaḥ dive-dive sahuriḥ stann abādhitaḥ || 8 ||
stomaṁ vo adya rudrāya śikvase kṣayadvīrāya namasā didiṣṭana |
yebhiḥ śivaḥ svavām̐ evayāvabhir divaḥ siṣakti svayaśā nikāmabhiḥ || 9 ||
te hi prajāyā abharanta vi śravo bṛhaspatir vṛṣabhaḥ somajāmayaḥ |
yajñair atharvā prathamo vi dhārayad devā dakṣair bhṛgavaḥ saṁ cikitrire || 10 ||
te hi dyāvāpṛthivī bhūriretasā narāśaṁsaś caturaṅgo yamo 'ditiḥ |
devas tvaṣṭā draviṇodā ṛbhukṣaṇaḥ pra rodasī maruto viṣṇur arhire || 11 ||
uta sya na uśijām urviyā kavir ahiḥ śṛṇotu budhnyo3 havīmani |
sūryāmāsā vicarantā divikṣitā dhiyā śamīnahuṣī asya bodhatam || 12 ||
pra naḥ pūṣā carathaṁ viśvadevyo 'pāṁ napād avatu vāyur iṣṭaye |
ātmānaṁ vasyo abhi vātam arcata tad aśvinā suhavā yāmani śrutam || 13 ||
viśām āsām abhayānām adhikṣitaṁ gīrbhir u svayaśasaṁ gṛṇīmasi |
gnābhir viśvābhir aditim anarvaṇam aktor yuvānaṁ nṛmaṇā adhā patim || 14 ||
rebhad atra januṣā pūrvo aṅgirā grāvāṇa ūrdhvā abhi cakṣur adhvaram |
yebhir vihāyā abhavad vicakṣaṇaḥ pāthaḥ sumekaṁ svadhitir vananvati || 15 ||
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).