Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda II.29 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. O steadfast, vigorous Ādityas, keep offense far from me, like a hidden, shameful fault. You gods who listen — Varuṇa, Mitra — knowing what is good, I call on you for help.
2. You, gods, are our providence; you are our strength; keep hostilities far away from us. You who rule over us, forgive us — show us mercy today and in time to come.
3. What use to us now is a later friendship of yours? What use an old bond, O bountiful ones? You, Mitra and Varuṇa, and Aditi, Indra and the Maruts — grant us well-being.
4. Ho, gods, you are indeed our kin — be gracious to me who calls out in need. Let your chariot not go without me riding in it; let us not grow weary laboring among kin such as you.
5. I alone have piled up many transgressions, the way a father corrects a son given to gambling. Keep the snares far away, keep evils far away, O gods — do not seize me, as one seizes a bird to give to a child.
6. Turn toward us today, O gods worthy of worship; trembling, let me draw near to your heart. Protect us, gods, from the wolf-like predator lying in ambush; protect us, worthy ones, from the pit where there is no foothold.
7. Let me not, Varuṇa, find myself bereft of a dear, generous, richly-giving friend. Let me not fall away, O king, from well-guided wealth; may we, blessed with strong sons, speak boldly in the assembly.
Translator's note: Two images resist certainty. In verse 1, "rahasūr iva āgaḥ" (literally "like the offense of one who gives birth in secret") is rendered conservatively as "a hidden, shameful fault." In verse 5, "putre vim iva grabhīṣṭa" (literally "seize not, as one seizes a bird for a son") is kept close to the Sanskrit rather than smoothed into a guessed idiom.
Colophon
Rigveda II.29 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.29
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.
dhṛtavratā ādityā iṣirā āre mat karta rahasūr ivāgaḥ |
śṛṇvato vo varuṇa mitra devā bhadrasya vidvām̐ avase huve vaḥ || 1 ||
yūyaṁ devāḥ pramatir yūyam ojo yūyaṁ dveṣāṁsi sanutar yuyota |
abhikṣattāro abhi ca kṣamadhvam adyā ca no mṛḻayatāparaṁ ca || 2 ||
kim ū nu vaḥ kṛṇavāmāpareṇa kiṁ sanena vasava āpyena |
yūyaṁ no mitrāvaruṇādite ca svastim indrāmaruto dadhāta || 3 ||
haye devā yūyam id āpayaḥ stha te mṛḻata nādhamānāya mahyam |
mā vo ratho madhyamavāḻ ṛte bhūn mā yuṣmāvatsv āpiṣu śramiṣma || 4 ||
pra va eko mimaya bhūry āgo yan mā piteva kitavaṁ śaśāsa |
āre pāśā āre aghāni devā mā mādhi putre vim iva grabhīṣṭa || 5 ||
arvāñco adyā bhavatā yajatrā ā vo hārdi bhayamāno vyayeyam |
trādhvaṁ no devā nijuro vṛkasya trādhvaṁ kartād avapado yajatrāḥ || 6 ||
māham maghono varuṇa priyasya bhūridāvna ā vidaṁ śūnam āpeḥ |
mā rāyo rājan suyamād ava sthām bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 7 ||
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).