Hymn to Agni, Savitar, Sūrya, Uṣas, and the Aśvins
Rigveda IV.14 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 Jātavedas has looked out toward the dawns, the god shining with his greatnesses. O Nāsatyas of wide range, come near to this sacrifice of ours with your chariot.
2. The god Savitar has raised his banner on high, making light for every world. Sūrya has filled heaven, earth, and the space between, becoming visible with his rays.
3. Bringing the ruddy ones, she has come with her light — great, brilliant, made visible by her rays. Awakening all beings toward good fortune, the goddess Uṣas travels on her well-yoked chariot.
4. Let your strongest-carrying horses bring your chariot here, at the breaking of the dawn. For here are the honey-drinks of soma for you two — rejoice, you bulls, in this sacrifice.
5. Not tied, not bound — how then does this one, bent down and stretched out, not fall? By what power of its own does it move? Who has seen it? The pillar of heaven, holding firm, guards the vault of the sky.
Translator's note: Verse 5 is a riddle-verse (brahmodya) whose referent is left unnamed in the Sanskrit — most likely the sun, imagined as an unsupported pillar holding up the sky. The syntax is compressed and the imagery is meant to puzzle; the translation keeps that ambiguity rather than resolving it.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.14 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.14
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 uṣaso jātavedā akhyad devo rocamānā mahobhiḥ |
ā nāsatyorugāyā rathenemaṁ yajñam upa no yātam accha || 1 ||
ūrdhvaṁ ketuṁ savitā devo aśrej jyotir viśvasmai bhuvanāya kṛṇvan |
āprā dyāvāpṛthivī antarikṣaṁ vi sūryo raśmibhiś cekitānaḥ || 2 ||
āvahanty aruṇīr jyotiṣāgān mahī citrā raśmibhiś cekitānā |
prabodhayantī suvitāya devy u1ṣā īyate suyujā rathena || 3 ||
ā vāṁ vahiṣṭhā iha te vahantu rathā aśvāsa uṣaso vyuṣṭau |
ime hi vām madhupeyāya somā asmin yajñe vṛṣaṇā mādayethām || 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).