Hymn to the All-Gods (Viśvedevas)
Rigveda II.31 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. Mitra and Varuṇa, protect our chariot — together with the Ādityas, the Rudras, and the Vasus — when, like birds, our team flies forth from its stall, eager for fame, exultant, perched on the wood of the car.
2. And then, gods of one accord, raise up for us our chariot that hunts the prize, among the settled peoples, when the swift steeds, crossing the dust with their feet, strike the ridge of the earth with their hooves.
3. And may that Indra, seer of all peoples, wise in power, stand with us — with the Marut host from heaven, with aids that harm no one — behind our chariot, for great gain, for the winning of the prize.
4. And may that god Tvaṣṭar, who holds all beings together, of one accord with the divine women, speed our chariot forward — and Iḷā, and Bhaga, and Bṛhaddivā, and the two Rodasī, Pūṣan, Purandhi, and then the two lord Aśvins.
5. And those two fair goddesses of mirrored aspect, Dawn and Night, ever close to all that moves — when I praise you two, Heaven and Earth, with a new-made speech, and with the threefold vigor of what stands, for your covering.
6. And we utter your praise as the Uśij priests do — to Ahi Budhnya, and to Aja Ekapād too, to Trita Ṛbhukṣan; Savitar has taken pleasure in it, and Apām Napāt, swift driver, through our thought and our labor.
7. These raised offerings I desire for you, you who deserve worship; the sons of Āyu have fashioned them anew, together — seeking fame, longing for the prize, like a yoked horse of the chariot — may he indeed reach his insight.
Translator's note: verse 5 addresses Heaven-and-Earth as a pair though only "Earth" (pṛthivī) is named — a common Rigvedic ellipsis where a dual deity-pair is invoked through one member's name paired with a dual verb form ("vām," you two). Verse 7 is unusually compressed; "sons of Āyu" (āyavaḥ) is a standing epithet for human worshippers, and the closing image compares the hymn's maker to a chariot-horse straining toward its goal — the exact referent of "he" in the final clause is not certain from the Sanskrit alone.
Colophon
Rigveda II.31 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.31
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.
asmākam mitrāvaruṇāvataṁ ratham ādityai rudrair vasubhiḥ sacābhuvā |
pra yad vayo na paptan vasmanas pari śravasyavo hṛṣīvanto vanarṣadaḥ || 1 ||
adha smā na ud avatā sajoṣaso rathaṁ devāso abhi vikṣu vājayum |
yad āśavaḥ padyābhis titrato rajaḥ pṛthivyāḥ sānau jaṅghananta pāṇibhiḥ || 2 ||
uta sya na indro viśvacarṣaṇir divaḥ śardhena mārutena sukratuḥ |
anu nu sthāty avṛkābhir ūtibhī ratham mahe sanaye vājasātaye || 3 ||
uta sya devo bhuvanasya sakṣaṇis tvaṣṭā gnābhiḥ sajoṣā jūjuvad ratham |
iḻā bhago bṛhaddivota rodasī pūṣā puraṁdhir aśvināv adhā patī || 4 ||
uta tye devī subhage mithūdṛśoṣāsānaktā jagatām apījuvā |
stuṣe yad vām pṛthivi navyasā vacaḥ sthātuś ca vayas trivayā upastire || 5 ||
uta vaḥ śaṁsam uśijām iva śmasy ahir budhnyo3 'ja ekapād uta |
trita ṛbhukṣāḥ savitā cano dadhe 'pāṁ napād āśuhemā dhiyā śami || 6 ||
etā vo vaśmy udyatā yajatrā atakṣann āyavo navyase sam |
śravasyavo vājaṁ cakānāḥ saptir na rathyo aha dhītim aśyāḥ || 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).