Hymn to Ghṛta (Clarified Butter)

Rigveda IV.58 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. From the ocean a honeyed wave has risen up; through silent worship it has reached immortality. The secret name of ghṛta — it is the tongue of the gods, the navel of the immortal.

2. We proclaim the name of ghṛta; in this sacrifice we hold it forth with acts of reverence. Let the brahman-priest hear it as it is praised — this four-horned bull bellows it out.

3. Four horns has he, three feet has he; two heads has he, seven hands has he. Bound in three places, the bull roars aloud; the great god has entered into mortals.

4. Placed in three ways, hidden by the Paṇis, the gods found the ghṛta within the cow. Indra shaped one, Sūrya begot one, from Vena by their own power they carved out one.

5. These streams flow from the ocean of the heart, in a hundred courses, not to be seen by the deceiver. I gaze upon the streams of ghṛta; among them, a golden reed.

6. They flow together like rivers, like milch-cows, purified within by heart and by mind. These waves of ghṛta rush forward, like wild deer fleeing the hunter's arrow.

7. Like swift rivers racing down their course, the young ones fly onward, matching the wind. The streams of ghṛta, like a ruddy stallion, break through the barriers, swelling with their waves.

8. They flow forward like young women to a gathering, lovely ones, smiling, toward Agni. The streams of ghṛta reach the kindling-wood; delighting in them, Jātavedas takes his pleasure.

9. Like a maiden going out to her bridal procession, anointed and gleaming — I gaze upon them. Where soma is pressed, where the sacrifice is held, there the streams of ghṛta flow, purifying.

10. Flow toward this our fine hymn of praise, toward the contest for cattle; grant us goodly riches. Lead this our sacrifice onward, O godhead; the streams of ghṛta flow, sweet with honey.

11. On your abode the whole world rests — within the ocean, within the heart, within life itself. That honeyed wave of yours, borne together in the meeting-place of the waters — may we attain it.

Translator's note: Verse 3's riddle imagery (four horns, three feet, two heads, seven hands, the bellowing bull) is a well-known Vedic enigma describing the sacrificial fire or the sacrifice itself in cryptic numerical form; its precise referents were debated even in antiquity, and this translation renders the images literally rather than resolving the riddle. In verse 4, "Vena" is left untranslated as a proper name (a seer or a name for the sun/soma in this context); its exact identity is uncertain.

Colophon

Rigveda IV.58 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.58

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.

samudrād ūrmir madhumām̐ ud ārad upāṁśunā sam amṛtatvam ānaṭ |
ghṛtasya nāma guhyaṁ yad asti jihvā devānām amṛtasya nābhiḥ || 1 ||

vayaṁ nāma pra bravāmā ghṛtasyāsmin yajñe dhārayāmā namobhiḥ |
upa brahmā śṛṇavac chasyamānaṁ catuḥśṛṅgo 'vamīd gaura etat || 2 ||

catvāri śṛṅgā trayo asya pādā dve śīrṣe sapta hastāso asya |
tridhā baddho vṛṣabho roravīti maho devo martyām̐ ā viveśa || 3 ||

tridhā hitam paṇibhir guhyamānaṁ gavi devāso ghṛtam anv avindan |
indra ekaṁ sūrya ekaṁ jajāna venād ekaṁ svadhayā niṣ ṭatakṣuḥ || 4 ||

etā arṣanti hṛdyāt samudrāc chatavrajā ripuṇā nāvacakṣe |
ghṛtasya dhārā abhi cākaśīmi hiraṇyayo vetaso madhya āsām || 5 ||

samyak sravanti sarito na dhenā antar hṛdā manasā pūyamānāḥ |
ete arṣanty ūrmayo ghṛtasya mṛgā iva kṣipaṇor īṣamāṇāḥ || 6 ||

sindhor iva prādhvane śūghanāso vātapramiyaḥ patayanti yahvāḥ |
ghṛtasya dhārā aruṣo na vājī kāṣṭhā bhindann ūrmibhiḥ pinvamānaḥ || 7 ||

abhi pravanta samaneva yoṣāḥ kalyāṇya1ḥ smayamānāso agnim |
ghṛtasya dhārāḥ samidho nasanta tā juṣāṇo haryati jātavedāḥ || 8 ||

kanyā iva vahatum etavā u añjy añjānā abhi cākaśīmi |
yatra somaḥ sūyate yatra yajño ghṛtasya dhārā abhi tat pavante || 9 ||

abhy arṣata suṣṭutiṁ gavyam ājim asmāsu bhadrā draviṇāni dhatta |
imaṁ yajñaṁ nayata devatā no ghṛtasya dhārā madhumat pavante || 10 ||

dhāman te viśvam bhuvanam adhi śritam antaḥ samudre hṛdy a1ntar āyuṣi |
apām anīke samithe ya ābhṛtas tam aśyāma madhumantaṁ ta ūrmim || 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).