Hymn to Sūrya
Rigveda IV.13 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 4 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. Agni has looked out toward the forefront of the shining dawns, well-disposed, a bestower of treasure. Come, Aśvins, to the house of the one who performs the rite well — the god Sūrya rises up with his light.
2. The god Savitar has raised his beam on high, shaking out his gleam like a warrior driving for cattle. Varuṇa and Mitra follow the ordinance, by which they make Sūrya climb into the sky.
3. Him whom the gods of steadfast dwelling, never slackening in purpose, made to shine for the piercing of the darkness — that Sūrya the seven young tawny mares carry, the watcher of the whole moving world.
4. Driving with your best-carrying steeds, you go stretching out your thread, wrapping up, O god, the dark garment. The quivering rays of Sūrya have thrust the darkness away like a hide, down within the waters.
5. Unharnessed, unbound — how is it that he, bending downward, outstretched, does not fall? By what inherent power does he move? Who has seen it? The pillar of heaven, firmly set, guards the vault of the sky.
Translator's note: verse 5 is the hymn's famous riddle-verse on how the unsupported sun stays aloft; "pillar of heaven" (divaḥ skambhaḥ) is kept literal rather than resolved into a named cosmic prop, since the Sanskrit itself leaves it as riddle rather than answer.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.13 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 IV.13
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.
praty agnir uṣasām agram akhyad vibhātīnāṁ sumanā ratnadheyam |
yātam aśvinā sukṛto duroṇam ut sūryo jyotiṣā deva eti || 1 ||
ūrdhvam bhānuṁ savitā devo aśred drapsaṁ davidhvad gaviṣo na satvā |
anu vrataṁ varuṇo yanti mitro yat sūryaṁ divy ārohayanti || 2 ||
yaṁ sīm akṛṇvan tamase vipṛce dhruvakṣemā anavasyanto artham |
taṁ sūryaṁ haritaḥ sapta yahvīḥ spaśaṁ viśvasya jagato vahanti || 3 ||
vahiṣṭhebhir viharan yāsi tantum avavyayann asitaṁ deva vasma |
davidhvato raśmayaḥ sūryasya carmevāvādhus tamo apsv a1ntaḥ || 4 ||
anāyato anibaddhaḥ kathāyaṁ nyaṅṅ uttāno 'va padyate na |
kayā yāti svadhayā ko dadarśa divaḥ skambhaḥ samṛtaḥ pāti nākam || 5 ||
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).