Hymn to Heaven and Earth (Dyāvāpṛthivī)
Rigveda IV.56 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. Great Dyāvāpṛthivī, be here with us, foremost, in splendor, through our shining chants — as when the bellowing bull pervades the two vast and widest ones, roaring in his far-spreading courses.
2. The two goddesses, unimpaired, are worshipped together with the worshipful gods; the two have stood, ever growing — truthful, without deceit, mothers of the gods, leaders of the sacrifice, through shining chants.
3. He alone was the skillful maker among the beings, who begot these two, Heaven and Earth — the wide ones, the deep ones, the well-formed two realms; the wise one, without any pillar to rest them on, set them in motion by his own power.
4. Now, O two worlds, guard us with your vast, wife-sheltering defenses, refreshing us, of one accord; wide-reaching, worshipped by all — protect us! May we, through devotion, be charioteers who always prevail.
5. To you two, great Heaven and Earth, we bring forward our praise — O pure ones, for your glory.
6. Purifying yourselves in body, each toward the other, you two reign by your own power; from ancient times you two have carried truth.
7. Great ones, you two accomplish Mitra's purpose, crossing over, fulfilling the sacred order; you have settled down around the sacrifice.
Translator's note: verse 1's "bull" (ukṣā) is left untranslated as an image rather than identified with a specific deity, since the Sanskrit does not name him. Verse 4's "wife-sheltering defenses" (varūthaiḥ patnīvadbhiḥ) is a compressed epithet — literally "shelters accompanied by the wife" — rendered conservatively rather than expanded. Verse 6's "purifying yourselves in body" (punāne tanvā) could also mean Heaven and Earth purifying each other; both readings are grammatically possible from the dual verb forms.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.56 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.56
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.
mahī dyāvāpṛthivī iha jyeṣṭhe rucā bhavatāṁ śucayadbhir arkaiḥ |
yat sīṁ variṣṭhe bṛhatī viminvan ruvad dhokṣā paprathānebhir evaiḥ || 1 ||
devī devebhir yajate yajatrair aminatī tasthatur ukṣamāṇe |
ṛtāvarī adruhā devaputre yajñasya netrī śucayadbhir arkaiḥ || 2 ||
sa it svapā bhuvaneṣv āsa ya ime dyāvāpṛthivī jajāna |
urvī gabhīre rajasī sumeke avaṁśe dhīraḥ śacyā sam airat || 3 ||
nū rodasī bṛhadbhir no varūthaiḥ patnīvadbhir iṣayantī sajoṣāḥ |
urūcī viśve yajate ni pātaṁ dhiyā syāma rathyaḥ sadāsāḥ || 4 ||
pra vām mahi dyavī abhy upastutim bharāmahe |
śucī upa praśastaye || 5 ||
punāne tanvā mithaḥ svena dakṣeṇa rājathaḥ |
ūhyāthe sanād ṛtam || 6 ||
mahī mitrasya sādhathas tarantī pipratī ṛtam |
pari yajñaṁ ni ṣedathuḥ || 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).