Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda IV.53 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. We choose that great, desirable gift of the god Savitṛ, the wise lord — by which he himself grants shelter to the one who gives offerings. May the great god send that up for us with his nightly rays.
2. Supporter of heaven, lord of creatures of the world, the seer puts on his tawny mantle. The far-seeing one, spreading out and filling the wide spaces, Savitṛ has brought forth a blessing worthy of praise.
3. He has filled the heavenly and earthly realms; the god makes his voice sound out for his own order. Savitṛ has stretched forth his arms at the hour of impelling, settling the world to rest and stirring it again with his nightly rays.
4. Undeceivable, he watches over the worlds; the god Savitṛ guards the ordinances. He has stretched forth his arms for the creatures of the world; holding fast his ordinance, he rules over the great track.
5. Three times, by his greatness, Savitṛ spans the mid-air, encompassing the three realms, the three luminous spaces. He sets in motion three heavens, three earths; with his three ordinances he guards us himself.
6. Vast in blessing, the impeller, the one who brings all to rest, lord of both the moving and the standing world — may that god Savitṛ grant us shelter, a threefold protection from distress, for our dwelling.
7. The god has come with the seasons; may he prosper our dwelling. May Savitṛ grant us nourishment together with good offspring. May he quicken us by nights and by days; may he bestow on us wealth accompanied by offspring.
Translator's note: "aktubhiḥ" (1, 3) is rendered "nightly rays" — the word can mean both "nights" and the rays/beams associated with them; both senses are present in Savitṛ's nightly-to-dawn activity. "trivarūtham" (6) is rendered "threefold protection," following its transparent compound sense (tri- "three" + varūtha "shelter/protection").
Colophon
Rigveda IV.53 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.53
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.
tad devasya savitur vāryam mahad vṛṇīmahe asurasya pracetasaḥ |
chardir yena dāśuṣe yacchati tmanā tan no mahām̐ ud ayān devo aktubhiḥ || 1 ||
divo dhartā bhuvanasya prajāpatiḥ piśaṅgaṁ drāpim prati muñcate kaviḥ |
vicakṣaṇaḥ prathayann āpṛṇann urv ajījanat savitā sumnam ukthyam || 2 ||
āprā rajāṁsi divyāni pārthivā ślokaṁ devaḥ kṛṇute svāya dharmaṇe |
pra bāhū asrāk savitā savīmani niveśayan prasuvann aktubhir jagat || 3 ||
adābhyo bhuvanāni pracākaśad vratāni devaḥ savitābhi rakṣate |
prāsrāg bāhū bhuvanasya prajābhyo dhṛtavrato maho ajmasya rājati || 4 ||
trir antarikṣaṁ savitā mahitvanā trī rajāṁsi paribhus trīṇi rocanā |
tisro divaḥ pṛthivīs tisra invati tribhir vratair abhi no rakṣati tmanā || 5 ||
bṛhatsumnaḥ prasavītā niveśano jagataḥ sthātur ubhayasya yo vaśī |
sa no devaḥ savitā śarma yacchatv asme kṣayāya trivarūtham aṁhasaḥ || 6 ||
āgan deva ṛtubhir vardhatu kṣayaṁ dadhātu naḥ savitā suprajām iṣam |
sa naḥ kṣapābhir ahabhiś ca jinvatu prajāvantaṁ rayim asme sam invatu || 7 ||
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).