Hymn to Bṛhaspati
Rigveda IV.50 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. Bṛhaspati, who with force propped apart the ends of the earth, dwelling in three seats, with his roar — him the ancient seers, meditating, the inspired poets, set before them, the sweet-tongued one.
2. The shakers, rejoicing in what is well marked, who have spread themselves toward us — guard, Bṛhaspati, that speckled, flowing, unassailable pen of cattle; Bṛhaspati, guard its hiding-place.
3. Bṛhaspati, from that farthest distance, your truth-touching ones have settled down. For you the dug wells, milked from the rock, drip honey all around, loud and abundant.
4. Bṛhaspati, being born first, out of great light in the highest heaven, seven-mouthed, mightily born, with his roar, seven-rayed, blew the darknesses away.
5. He, with his well-chanting troop, he with his hymn-singing troop, split open Vala the stronghold with a roar. Bṛhaspati, who readies the offerings, bellowing, drove up the lowing, ruddy cows.
6. So to the father, the god of all the gods, the bull, let us do homage with sacrifices, with reverence, with oblations. Bṛhaspati, may we, with good offspring and heroic sons, be lords of riches.
7. He indeed is king over all rival peoples, standing supreme through his force and his valor. Whoever sustains Bṛhaspati well prospers; he who gives him the first share is praised.
8. He indeed dwells well settled in his own home; for him nourishment swells forth at every season. To him the clans bow down of their own accord — the king in whose realm the sacred word goes first.
9. Unopposed, he wins wealth together, both what belongs to rival peoples and what belongs to his own. Whatever king makes room for the one who comes to the sacred formula seeking help — that king the gods protect.
10. Indra and Bṛhaspati, drink the soma at this sacrifice, exhilarated, you two of mighty wealth. Let the good soma-drops enter into you both; grant us riches complete with all our heroes.
11. Bṛhaspati and Indra, make us prosper together; may that good will of yours rest upon us. Favor our prayers, rouse our abundance, and destroy the enmity of the greedy foe.
Translator's note: verse 2's "dhunetayaḥ" (the "shakers") and "supraketam" (the well-marked thing) are terse and elliptical in the Sanskrit — likely allusive references to the Vala myth developed explicitly in verse 5 — and are rendered conservatively rather than filled in with an interpretive gloss. Verse 8's "brahmā rājani pūrva eti" is rendered "the sacred word goes first," following the sense that the officiating priest/formula holds precedence in a rightly ordered kingdom.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.50 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.50
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.
yas tastambha sahasā vi jmo antān bṛhaspatis triṣadhastho raveṇa |
tam pratnāsa ṛṣayo dīdhyānāḥ puro viprā dadhire mandrajihvam || 1 ||
dhunetayaḥ supraketam madanto bṛhaspate abhi ye nas tatasre |
pṛṣantaṁ sṛpram adabdham ūrvam bṛhaspate rakṣatād asya yonim || 2 ||
bṛhaspate yā paramā parāvad ata ā ta ṛtaspṛśo ni ṣeduḥ |
tubhyaṁ khātā avatā adridugdhā madhvaḥ ścotanty abhito virapśam || 3 ||
bṛhaspatiḥ prathamaṁ jāyamāno maho jyotiṣaḥ parame vyoman |
saptāsyas tuvijāto raveṇa vi saptaraśmir adhamat tamāṁsi || 4 ||
sa suṣṭubhā sa ṛkvatā gaṇena valaṁ ruroja phaligaṁ raveṇa |
bṛhaspatir usriyā havyasūdaḥ kanikradad vāvaśatīr ud ājat || 5 ||
evā pitre viśvadevāya vṛṣṇe yajñair vidhema namasā havirbhiḥ |
bṛhaspate suprajā vīravanto vayaṁ syāma patayo rayīṇām || 6 ||
sa id rājā pratijanyāni viśvā śuṣmeṇa tasthāv abhi vīryeṇa |
bṛhaspatiṁ yaḥ subhṛtam bibharti valgūyati vandate pūrvabhājam || 7 ||
sa it kṣeti sudhita okasi sve tasmā iḻā pinvate viśvadānīm |
tasmai viśaḥ svayam evā namante yasmin brahmā rājani pūrva eti || 8 ||
apratīto jayati saṁ dhanāni pratijanyāny uta yā sajanyā |
avasyave yo varivaḥ kṛṇoti brahmaṇe rājā tam avanti devāḥ || 9 ||
indraś ca somam pibatam bṛhaspate 'smin yajñe mandasānā vṛṣaṇvasū |
ā vāṁ viśantv indavaḥ svābhuvo 'sme rayiṁ sarvavīraṁ ni yacchatam || 10 ||
bṛhaspata indra vardhataṁ naḥ sacā sā vāṁ sumatir bhūtv asme |
aviṣṭaṁ dhiyo jigṛtam puraṁdhīr jajastam aryo vanuṣām arātīḥ || 11 ||
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).