Indra and Varuṇa
Rigveda IV.42 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. Mine, in two ways, is the dominion of ruling power that reaches over all life, so that all the immortal gods are with us. The gods follow the will of Varuṇa; I rule the highest vault over the peoples.
2. I am King Varuṇa; to me were those first sovereign powers given to hold. The gods follow the will of Varuṇa; I rule the highest vault over the peoples.
3. I am Indra. Varuṇa, by his greatness, holds the two wide, deep, well-formed realms. Like Tvaṣṭṛ, knowing all beings, I set the two world-halves in motion and held them apart.
4. I made the waters swell and flow; I held up heaven in the seat of cosmic order. By that order, the son of Aditi, true to order, spread out the threefold earth.
5. Me the men with fine horses, striving for the prize, call upon; me, when hard-pressed in the clash of battle, they call. I, the bountiful one, wage the contest; I, Indra, of overpowering strength, stir up the dust.
6. I have done all these deeds; no divine power holds back me, the unmatched one — when the soma-draughts have gladdened me, when the hymn has been sung, both boundless worlds take fright.
7. All beings know these deeds of yours; you, O wise one, proclaim them to Varuṇa. You, Indra, are renowned as slayer of the obstructing foes; you set free the enclosed rivers.
8. Here were our fathers, the seven seers, when the son of Durgaha was beset. They consecrated Trasadasyu, of her line, like Indra, conqueror of the obstructer, a half-god.
9. For Purukutsānī offered to you two, Indra and Varuṇa, with oblations and with homage. Then you two gave her Trasadasyu as king, slayer of the obstructer, a half-god.
10. Having won wealth, may we rejoice, as the gods rejoice in the oblation, as the cows rejoice in the pasture. That milk-cow, O Indra and Varuṇa, grant us always, one that does not withhold her milk.
Translator's note: verse 7's opening pronouns are ambiguous in the Sanskrit — it is unclear whether "your deeds" and the address to a "wise one" name the poet or one of the two gods; the rendering above keeps that ambiguity rather than resolving it. "The obstructer" (vṛtra) is kept as a common noun, since the verse uses it to describe both a mythic foe and human enemies. "Half-god" (ardhadeva) is a literal rendering of an epithet applied to the human king Trasadasyu, marking him as god-descended rather than fully divine.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.42 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.42
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.
mama dvitā rāṣṭraṁ kṣatriyasya viśvāyor viśve amṛtā yathā naḥ |
kratuṁ sacante varuṇasya devā rājāmi kṛṣṭer upamasya vavreḥ || 1 ||
ahaṁ rājā varuṇo mahyaṁ tāny asuryāṇi prathamā dhārayanta |
kratuṁ sacante varuṇasya devā rājāmi kṛṣṭer upamasya vavreḥ || 2 ||
aham indro varuṇas te mahitvorvī gabhīre rajasī sumeke |
tvaṣṭeva viśvā bhuvanāni vidvān sam airayaṁ rodasī dhārayaṁ ca || 3 ||
aham apo apinvam ukṣamāṇā dhārayaṁ divaṁ sadana ṛtasya |
ṛtena putro aditer ṛtāvota tridhātu prathayad vi bhūma || 4 ||
māṁ naraḥ svaśvā vājayanto māṁ vṛtāḥ samaraṇe havante |
kṛṇomy ājim maghavāham indra iyarmi reṇum abhibhūtyojāḥ || 5 ||
ahaṁ tā viśvā cakaraṁ nakir mā daivyaṁ saho varate apratītam |
yan mā somāso mamadan yad ukthobhe bhayete rajasī apāre || 6 ||
viduṣ ṭe viśvā bhuvanāni tasya tā pra bravīṣi varuṇāya vedhaḥ |
tvaṁ vṛtrāṇi śṛṇviṣe jaghanvān tvaṁ vṛtām̐ ariṇā indra sindhūn || 7 ||
asmākam atra pitaras ta āsan sapta ṛṣayo daurgahe badhyamāne |
ta āyajanta trasadasyum asyā indraṁ na vṛtraturam ardhadevam || 8 ||
purukutsānī hi vām adāśad dhavyebhir indrāvaruṇā namobhiḥ |
athā rājānaṁ trasadasyum asyā vṛtrahaṇaṁ dadathur ardhadevam || 9 ||
rāyā vayaṁ sasavāṁso madema havyena devā yavasena gāvaḥ |
tāṁ dhenum indrāvaruṇā yuvaṁ no viśvāhā dhattam anapasphurantīm || 10 ||
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).