Hymn to Draviṇodas
Rigveda II.37 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.
This hymn addresses Draviṇodas, "the Wealth-Giver," a name under which Agni is invoked during the soma offering. Verse by verse it follows the soma as it is poured out and drunk from the cups belonging to the different officiating priests — the hotṛ, the potṛ, the neṣṭṛ — urging Draviṇodas to drink from each cup as it is presented, and finally the unmixed fourth cup reserved for him alone.
The hymn then turns, in its fifth verse, to invite a pair of gods — addressed together as "rich in vigor" — to yoke their chariot and come drink soma as well, before closing with a direct address to Agni, asking him to delight in the fuel, the oblation, and the praise offered to him, and to give all the willing gods their share of the offering.
1. Rejoice, from the hotṛ's cup, as you please, in the soma-juice, O Adhvaryu priests — he wants the full pouring. Bring it to him, obedient to his wish, the giver: O Draviṇodas, drink the soma from the hotṛ's cup, at the ritual turns.
2. Whom I called before, him I call now again; he indeed is to be called, the giver who is known by that very name. The soma-sweetness set out by the Adhvaryus — O Draviṇodas, drink the soma from the potṛ's cup, at the ritual turns.
3. Let your bearers, with whom you travel, grow strong and unharmed; be firm, O lord of the wood. Having come near, O bold one, roused by the call — O Draviṇodas, drink the soma from the neṣṭṛ's cup, at the ritual turns.
4. He has drunk from the hotṛ's cup, and grown exhilarated from the potṛ's cup, and from the neṣṭṛ's cup he has taken his pleasure in the offered food. Let Draviṇodas drink the fourth cup — unmixed, undying — the cup that belongs to Draviṇodas.
5. Today yoke hither your swift, man-carrying chariot; here is its unyoking-place for the two of you. Mix the oblations well with sweetness; come, and then drink the soma, you two rich in vigor.
6. Delight, O Agni, in the kindling-wood; delight in the oblation; delight in the prayer offered for the people; delight in the fine praise. With all your powers, O Vasu, great at the right season and willing yourself, give the willing gods, all of them, the oblation to drink.
Translator's note: verse 3's "āyūyā... abhigūryā tvam" is grammatically obscure in the received text; it is rendered conservatively here as "having come near... roused by the call." Verse 5 shifts to addressing two gods together as "rich in vigor" (vājinīvasū), an epithet elsewhere used for the Aśvins, though the pair is not named outright in this hymn.
Colophon
Rigveda II.37 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.37
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.
mandasva hotrād anu joṣam andhaso 'dhvaryavaḥ sa pūrṇāṁ vaṣṭy āsicam |
tasmā etam bharata tadvaśo dadir hotrāt somaṁ draviṇodaḥ piba ṛtubhiḥ || 1 ||
yam u pūrvam ahuve tam idaṁ huve sed u havyo dadir yo nāma patyate |
adhvaryubhiḥ prasthitaṁ somyam madhu potrāt somaṁ draviṇodaḥ piba ṛtubhiḥ || 2 ||
medyantu te vahnayo yebhir īyase 'riṣaṇyan vīḻayasvā vanaspate |
āyūyā dhṛṣṇo abhigūryā tvaṁ neṣṭrāt somaṁ draviṇodaḥ piba ṛtubhiḥ || 3 ||
apād dhotrād uta potrād amattota neṣṭrād ajuṣata prayo hitam |
turīyam pātram amṛktam amartyaṁ draviṇodāḥ pibatu drāviṇodasaḥ || 4 ||
arvāñcam adya yayyaṁ nṛvāhaṇaṁ rathaṁ yuñjāthām iha vāṁ vimocanam |
pṛṅktaṁ havīṁṣi madhunā hi kaṁ gatam athā somam pibataṁ vājinīvasū || 5 ||
joṣy agne samidhaṁ joṣy āhutiṁ joṣi brahma janyaṁ joṣi suṣṭutim |
viśvebhir viśvām̐ ṛtunā vaso maha uśan devām̐ uśataḥ pāyayā haviḥ || 6 ||
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).