Hymn to Many Gods
Rigveda II.41 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 hymn is not addressed to a single deity. It moves through a sequence of short invitations to the soma-offering — to Vāyu, to Indra and Vāyu together, to Mitra and Varuṇa, to the Aśvins, to Indra alone, to the Viśvedevas (all the gods together), to the river-goddess Sarasvatī, and finally to Heaven and Earth — a pattern typical of the morning litany hymns of this maṇḍala. The poet names himself as of the line of Gṛtsamada and the Śunahotra family in verses 14, 17, and 18.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. O Vāyu, with your thousand chariots — come with them, driving your yoked team, to drink the soma.
2. Come, O Vāyu, with your team; this bright soma is held out for you; you are the one who goes to the house of the one who presses it.
3. Today, O Indra and Vāyu with your team, come to the bright soma mixed with milk; come, drink, you two heroes.
4. This soma, pressed for you, O Mitra and Varuṇa, strengtheners of the cosmic order — hear my call, here, now.
5. The two kings, free of malice, sit in the highest, firmest seat, the one with a thousand pillars.
6. Those two sovereigns, pouring out ghee, the two Ādityas, lords of bounty, hold together without deviation.
7. Come well indeed, O Nāsatyas, with cattle and with horses, O Aśvins — to the man-protecting round, O Rudras.
8. So that no evil-speaking mortal enemy, near or far, may dare to harm us, O you two rich in strength.
9. May the two Aśvins bring us wealth of golden hue — you wise ones, finders of open room to live in.
10. Indra indeed has shaken off the great fear that stood over us; for he is steadfast, far-seeing.
11. And may Indra be gracious to us; may no harm reach us from behind; may good stand before us.
12. May Indra make us free of fear from every quarter — conqueror of enemies, the far-seeing one.
13. Come, all you gods; hear this call of mine; sit down here on this barhis of sacred grass.
14. This sharp, honeyed, exhilarating soma is yours among the Śunahotras — drink this one, the desired draught.
15. You troops of Maruts with Indra as your eldest, you gods with the bounty of Pūṣan — all of you, hear my call.
16. O Sarasvatī, most motherly of mothers, best of rivers, best of goddesses — we are as if without renown; make us renowned, O mother.
17. In you, divine Sarasvatī, all lives find their refuge. Rejoice among the Śunahotras; O goddess, grant us offspring.
18. Accept these sacred words, O Sarasvatī rich in strength — this is the thought of Gṛtsamada, offered to you, truthful one, dear among the gods.
19. Go forth, you two who bring the sacrifice to good outcome; we choose you indeed, and Agni, the carrier of offerings.
20. May Heaven and Earth grant us this sacrifice today, successful, reaching heaven, among the gods.
21. May the gods worthy of worship, free of malice, sit down in your lap, here, today, for the drinking of soma.
Translator's note: verse 19's "you two" (yuvām) has no named referent in the verse itself — the immediately preceding invocations are to Sarasvatī and, before her, the Viśvedevas, but the dual form more likely continues the hymn's recurring address to paired deities (as with Indra-Vāyu, Mitra-Varuṇa, and the Aśvins earlier); the Sanskrit is left to speak for itself rather than supplying a guessed name. Verse 7's "Rudras" (rudrā) is a known but unusual epithet for the Aśvins in this position and is kept as written rather than smoothed into "Aśvins" again.
Colophon
Rigveda II.41 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.41
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.
vāyo ye te sahasriṇo rathāsas tebhir ā gahi |
niyutvān somapītaye || 1 ||
niyutvān vāyav ā gahy ayaṁ śukro ayāmi te |
gantāsi sunvato gṛham || 2 ||
śukrasyādya gavāśira indravāyū niyutvataḥ |
ā yātam pibataṁ narā || 3 ||
ayaṁ vām mitrāvaruṇā sutaḥ soma ṛtāvṛdhā |
mamed iha śrutaṁ havam || 4 ||
rājānāv anabhidruhā dhruve sadasy uttame |
sahasrasthūṇa āsāte || 5 ||
tā samrājā ghṛtāsutī ādityā dānunas patī |
sacete anavahvaram || 6 ||
gomad ū ṣu nāsatyāśvāvad yātam aśvinā |
vartī rudrā nṛpāyyam || 7 ||
na yat paro nāntara ādadharṣad vṛṣaṇvasū |
duḥśaṁso martyo ripuḥ || 8 ||
tā na ā voḻham aśvinā rayim piśaṅgasaṁdṛśam |
dhiṣṇyā varivovidam || 9 ||
indro aṅga mahad bhayam abhī ṣad apa cucyavat |
sa hi sthiro vicarṣaṇiḥ || 10 ||
indraś ca mṛḻayāti no na naḥ paścād aghaṁ naśat |
bhadram bhavāti naḥ puraḥ || 11 ||
indra āśābhyas pari sarvābhyo abhayaṁ karat |
jetā śatrūn vicarṣaṇiḥ || 12 ||
viśve devāsa ā gata śṛṇutā ma imaṁ havam |
edam barhir ni ṣīdata || 13 ||
tīvro vo madhumām̐ ayaṁ śunahotreṣu matsaraḥ |
etam pibata kāmyam || 14 ||
indrajyeṣṭhā marudgaṇā devāsaḥ pūṣarātayaḥ |
viśve mama śrutā havam || 15 ||
ambitame nadītame devitame sarasvati |
apraśastā iva smasi praśastim amba nas kṛdhi || 16 ||
tve viśvā sarasvati śritāyūṁṣi devyām |
śunahotreṣu matsva prajāṁ devi didiḍḍhi naḥ || 17 ||
imā brahma sarasvati juṣasva vājinīvati |
yā te manma gṛtsamadā ṛtāvari priyā deveṣu juhvati || 18 ||
pretāṁ yajñasya śambhuvā yuvām id ā vṛṇīmahe |
agniṁ ca havyavāhanam || 19 ||
dyāvā naḥ pṛthivī imaṁ sidhram adya divispṛśam |
yajñaṁ deveṣu yacchatām || 20 ||
ā vām upastham adruhā devāḥ sīdantu yajñiyāḥ |
ihādya somapītaye || 21 ||
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).