When the dawn breaketh over the mountains and the first light of day spreadeth across the sky, we turn our faces eastward and call out to the Aśvins, the divine twins, the healers most blessed! Already they come, with the approach of morning itself, drawn by the hymns of those who have kept vigil through the night.

The Aśvins are the children of the sun and of the ocean, born at the boundary between night and day, where all boundaries grow thin and all transformations are possible. They are youth itself incarnate, unmarred by age, unmarred by suffering. Their beauty is as the beauty of the morning star; their radiance is as the radiance of the new-risen sun.

With them come their miraculous powers, their ability to heal and to restore that which was broken or lost. When the warrior falleth wounded upon the field, when sickness layeth its hand upon the mortal frame, when hope seemeth to flee and death draweth near — then do the Aśvins come swiftly in their golden chariot, drawn by birds and horses, and they touch the sufferer with hands that know no mercy but only perfect healing.

They are the physicians of the gods and of men. No ailment is beyond their remedy; no damage is permanent in their sight. They have made the blind to see again; they have given the lame the power to walk; they have restored the aged to the vigour of youth. They do not ask payment; they do not demand sacrifice. They come simply because they are invoked, because the sincere cry of the suffering calleth to them across all the distances of earth and sky.

Yet they are not merely healers. They are also the guardians of justice, the protectors of those who invoke them with righteous hearts. When the noble warrior rideth forth into danger, the Aśvins ride beside him. When the orphan crieth out for aid, the Aśvins hear and come swiftly. They are the proof that the devas do not abandon the righteous, that mercy and aid are forever available to those who call.