Hymn to the Healing Plants
Rigveda X.97 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 plants that were born before the gods, three ages before now — I call to mind the hundred and seven forms of the brown ones.
2. A hundred are your forms, O mother, and a thousand your shoots. Now, you of a hundred powers, make this man free of illness for me.
3. Rejoice, O plants, you flowering, fruit-bearing ones — like mares racing together to victory, you plants who carry the sick through to safety.
4. "O plants" — thus, mothers, goddesses, I call to you: may I win a horse, a cow, a garment — your very self, O man, restored.
5. In the fig tree is your seat, in the parṇa tree your dwelling is made. You shall indeed have a share of cattle when you win the man back.
6. Where the plants have gathered together like kings in council, that inspired one is called a healer — a driver-away of demons and disease.
7. The one rich in horses, rich in soma, vigor-giving, of great strength — I have gathered all the plants for this man's safety.
8. The vigors of the plants rise up like cows from the pen at dawn, plants about to win wealth — and your very self, O man, restored.
9. "Repairer" is your mother's name, and you yourselves are restorers. You are winged streams; whatever ails, you drive it out.
10. Past every barrier, like a thief into a cattle-pen, they have stepped — the plants have shaken loose whatever harm was in the body.
11. When I, urging these plants on, take them in my hand, the very life of the disease perishes, as one seized alive before it can flee.
12. Whoever's limb by limb, joint by joint you creep over, O plants — from there drive out the disease, fierce, as one who stands in the midst.
13. Together, O disease, fly off with the cāṣa-bird, with the kikidīvi-bird; together with the rush of the wind, together perish with the storm-flash.
14. Let one of you help another, let each lend help to the next. All of you together, in accord — carry forward this word of mine.
15. Those that bear fruit, those without fruit or flower, and those that flower — sent forth by Bṛhaspati, may they free us from distress.
16. May they free me from the bond of the curse, and from Varuṇa's bond too, and from Yama's foot-fetter, from every offense against the gods.
17. Flying down from the sky, the plants spoke: "The man whom we reach while he still lives — that man shall not come to harm."
18. Of the plants that have Soma as their king, the many, the hundredfold-discerning — of these you are the highest, sufficient for our desire, a comfort to the heart.
19. O plants that have Soma as king, spread out over the earth, sent forth by Bṛhaspati — grant strength to this one.
20. Let no harm come to the one who digs you up, nor to him for whom I dig you. Let all that is ours, two-footed and four-footed, be free of sickness.
21. Those that hear this here, and those that have gone far away — all you plants, gather together and grant strength to this one.
22. The plants speak together with Soma the king: "He for whom the priest acts — him, O king, we shall carry through to safety."
23. You are the highest, O plant; the trees are your attendants. Let him who attacks us become an attendant of ours.
Translator's note: verse 12's "madhyamaśīḥ" (rendered "one who stands in the midst") and verse 13's "nihākā" (rendered "storm-flash") are obscure Vedic hapax-adjacent terms whose precise sense is disputed; the renderings above are conservative approximations of the root images rather than settled meanings.
Colophon
Rigveda X.97 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.97
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.
yā oṣadhīḥ pūrvā jātā devebhyas triyugam purā |
manai nu babhrūṇām ahaṁ śataṁ dhāmāni sapta ca || 1 ||
śataṁ vo amba dhāmāni sahasram uta vo ruhaḥ |
adhā śatakratvo yūyam imam me agadaṁ kṛta || 2 ||
oṣadhīḥ prati modadhvam puṣpavatīḥ prasūvarīḥ |
aśvā iva sajitvarīr vīrudhaḥ pārayiṣṇvaḥ || 3 ||
oṣadhīr iti mātaras tad vo devīr upa bruve |
saneyam aśvaṁ gāṁ vāsa ātmānaṁ tava pūruṣa || 4 ||
aśvatthe vo niṣadanam parṇe vo vasatiṣ kṛtā |
gobhāja it kilāsatha yat sanavatha pūruṣam || 5 ||
yatrauṣadhīḥ samagmata rājānaḥ samitāv iva |
vipraḥ sa ucyate bhiṣag rakṣohāmīvacātanaḥ || 6 ||
aśvāvatīṁ somāvatīm ūrjayantīm udojasam |
āvitsi sarvā oṣadhīr asmā ariṣṭatātaye || 7 ||
uc chuṣmā oṣadhīnāṁ gāvo goṣṭhād iverate |
dhanaṁ saniṣyantīnām ātmānaṁ tava pūruṣa || 8 ||
iṣkṛtir nāma vo mātātho yūyaṁ stha niṣkṛtīḥ |
sīrāḥ patatriṇīḥ sthana yad āmayati niṣ kṛtha || 9 ||
ati viśvāḥ pariṣṭhāḥ stena iva vrajam akramuḥ |
oṣadhīḥ prācucyavur yat kiṁ ca tanvo3 rapaḥ || 10 ||
yad imā vājayann aham oṣadhīr hasta ādadhe |
ātmā yakṣmasya naśyati purā jīvagṛbho yathā || 11 ||
yasyauṣadhīḥ prasarpathāṅgam-aṅgam paruṣ-paruḥ |
tato yakṣmaṁ vi bādhadhva ugro madhyamaśīr iva || 12 ||
sākaṁ yakṣma pra pata cāṣeṇa kikidīvinā |
sākaṁ vātasya dhrājyā sākaṁ naśya nihākayā || 13 ||
anyā vo anyām avatv anyānyasyā upāvata |
tāḥ sarvāḥ saṁvidānā idam me prāvatā vacaḥ || 14 ||
yāḥ phalinīr yā aphalā apuṣpā yāś ca puṣpiṇīḥ |
bṛhaspatiprasūtās tā no muñcantv aṁhasaḥ || 15 ||
muñcantu mā śapathyā3d atho varuṇyād uta |
atho yamasya paḍbīśāt sarvasmād devakilbiṣāt || 16 ||
avapatantīr avadan diva oṣadhayas pari |
yaṁ jīvam aśnavāmahai na sa riṣyāti pūruṣaḥ || 17 ||
yā oṣadhīḥ somarājñīr bahvīḥ śatavicakṣaṇāḥ |
tāsāṁ tvam asy uttamāraṁ kāmāya śaṁ hṛde || 18 ||
yā oṣadhīḥ somarājñīr viṣṭhitāḥ pṛthivīm anu |
bṛhaspatiprasūtā asyai saṁ datta vīryam || 19 ||
mā vo riṣat khanitā yasmai cāhaṁ khanāmi vaḥ |
dvipac catuṣpad asmākaṁ sarvam astv anāturam || 20 ||
yāś cedam upaśṛṇvanti yāś ca dūram parāgatāḥ |
sarvāḥ saṁgatya vīrudho 'syai saṁ datta vīryam || 21 ||
oṣadhayaḥ saṁ vadante somena saha rājñā |
yasmai kṛṇoti brāhmaṇas taṁ rājan pārayāmasi || 22 ||
tvam uttamāsy oṣadhe tava vṛkṣā upastayaḥ |
upastir astu so3 'smākaṁ yo asmām̐ abhidāsati || 23 ||
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).