Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda II.28 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 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. This hymn belongs to the poet-seer, the self-ruling son of Aditi — may it reach, in its greatness, all things that exist. From that god who is most gladdening to worship, I beg the good renown of bountiful Varuṇa.
2. May we, devout and having praised you, be fortunate within your ordinance, O Varuṇa — like fires kindled day after day, at the approach of dawns rich in cattle.
3. May we stand under your shelter, O Varuṇa, leader who has many heroes and is widely praised. You unassailable sons of Aditi, O gods, be patient with us for the sake of our bond.
4. The son of Aditi, the sustainer, set them forth: the rivers flow by Varuṇa's ordinance. They do not grow weary, they do not unyoke themselves — like birds they fly swiftly on their circling course.
5. Loosen from me, as one loosens a rein, my offense — may we prosper, O Varuṇa, at the opening of ṛta. Let not the thread of my weaving thought be cut; let not the measure of the work fail before its due time.
6. Drive far away from me my fear, O Varuṇa; sovereign, true to ṛta, take hold of me. Loosen me from distress as a calf is loosed from its tether — for not even for the blink of an eye am I anything apart from you.
7. Do not strike us, O Varuṇa, with those weapons which, at your will, O mighty one, crush the one who does wrong. May we not go into exile from the light — loosen well our foes, that we may live.
8. Homage to you, Varuṇa, in the past, and now, and we will speak it again hereafter, O mighty-born one. For in you, as though resting on a mountain, your ordinances stand unshaken, O one who cannot be deceived.
9. Drive away the debts that are of my own making, O king; let me not, O king, bear the burden of what another has done. Many dawns not yet risen still remain — in those, O Varuṇa, guide us while we live.
10. Whoever, O king — ally or friend — has spoken fear to me, fearful, in a dream, or whoever seeks to harm us, thief or wolf — from that, O Varuṇa, protect us.
11. Let me not, O Varuṇa, know the loss of a bountiful, dear, generous friend. Let me not, O king, fall away from well-guided wealth — may we, rich in fine sons, speak boldly in the assembly.
Translator's note: verse 5 turns on a weaving metaphor (thread, warp, measure) applied to thought and to ritual work; the exact mechanics of the image are compressed in the Sanskrit and rendered here conservatively. In verse 9, "avyuṣṭāḥ ... uṣāsaḥ" (dawns not yet dawned) is kept literal rather than smoothed into an abstraction. In verse 11, "bhūridāvnaḥ āpeḥ" (a generous friend/kinsman) is read as describing Varuṇa himself, in keeping with the surrounding appeal.
Colophon
Rigveda II.28 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 II.28
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.
idaṁ kaver ādityasya svarājo viśvāni sānty abhy astu mahnā |
ati yo mandro yajathāya devaḥ sukīrtim bhikṣe varuṇasya bhūreḥ || 1 ||
tava vrate subhagāsaḥ syāma svādhyo varuṇa tuṣṭuvāṁsaḥ |
upāyana uṣasāṁ gomatīnām agnayo na jaramāṇā anu dyūn || 2 ||
tava syāma puruvīrasya śarmann uruśaṁsasya varuṇa praṇetaḥ |
yūyaṁ naḥ putrā aditer adabdhā abhi kṣamadhvaṁ yujyāya devāḥ || 3 ||
pra sīm ādityo asṛjad vidhartām̐ ṛtaṁ sindhavo varuṇasya yanti |
na śrāmyanti na vi mucanty ete vayo na paptū raghuyā parijman || 4 ||
vi mac chrathāya raśanām ivāga ṛdhyāma te varuṇa khām ṛtasya |
mā tantuś chedi vayato dhiyam me mā mātrā śāry apasaḥ pura ṛtoḥ || 5 ||
apo su myakṣa varuṇa bhiyasam mat samrāḻ ṛtāvo 'nu mā gṛbhāya |
dāmeva vatsād vi mumugdhy aṁho nahi tvad āre nimiṣaś caneśe || 6 ||
mā no vadhair varuṇa ye ta iṣṭāv enaḥ kṛṇvantam asura bhrīṇanti |
mā jyotiṣaḥ pravasathāni ganma vi ṣū mṛdhaḥ śiśratho jīvase naḥ || 7 ||
namaḥ purā te varuṇota nūnam utāparaṁ tuvijāta bravāma |
tve hi kam parvate na śritāny apracyutāni dūḻabha vratāni || 8 ||
para ṛṇā sāvīr adha matkṛtāni māhaṁ rājann anyakṛtena bhojam |
avyuṣṭā in nu bhūyasīr uṣāsa ā no jīvān varuṇa tāsu śādhi || 9 ||
yo me rājan yujyo vā sakhā vā svapne bhayam bhīrave mahyam āha |
steno vā yo dipsati no vṛko vā tvaṁ tasmād varuṇa pāhy asmān || 10 ||
māham maghono varuṇa priyasya bhūridāvna ā vidaṁ śūnam āpeḥ |
mā rāyo rājan suyamād ava sthām bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 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).