Hymn to the Viśvedevas (All-Gods)
Rigveda V.43 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 5 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. The hymn belongs to the Viśvedevas (All-Gods) type: rather than praising one deity throughout, it moves from god to god — the milk-offerings, Heaven and Earth, Vāyu, the soma-pressers, Indra, Agni, Aramati, the Aśvins, Pūṣan and Vāyu together, the Maruts, Sarasvatī, and Bṛhaspati — inviting each in turn to the sacrifice.
1. Let the milch-cows, swift-moving, unfailing, come to us with milk and sweetness. For great wealth the inspired singer loudly calls the seven lofty ones, bringers of joy.
2. With fine praise and homage we turn to Heaven and Earth, unfailing, for strength — father and mother, sweet of speech, skillful of hand: may the two glorious ones help us in every contest.
3. O Adhvaryu priests, having prepared the sweet draughts, carry forth to Vāyu the lovely bright soma. Like the Hotṛ priest, drink first of this, O god — we have given you the sweet drink for your exhilaration.
4. Ten fingers and two skillful arms set the pressing-stone to work — the deft finishers of soma. The fair-handed stone, standing on the mountain, resounding, has milked out the bright sap of the sweet stalk.
5. Soma has been pressed for you, who delight in it, for insight, for strength, for great exhilaration. O Indra, being invoked, bring hither in the chariot your two dear bay horses, well-yoked at the harnessing.
6. O Agni, bring hither for us, in accord with the gods, the great goddess Aramati, to whom offerings are given with homage — the lofty one who knows the sacred order — for the joy of the sweet drink, by the paths the gods travel.
7. They anoint him, the inspired ones, spreading him out, the one bearing the offering-fat, heating it as with fire. Like a most dear son in his father's lap, the gharma-vessel has been set down, in keeping with Agni.
8. Let the great, lofty, most soothing hymn go forth like a messenger, to call the two Aśvins. Come hither together in one chariot, you two bringers of joy; come to the sacrificial store, to the yoke, as the linchpin comes to the wheel's nave.
9. I have offered a word of homage to the mighty, swift one — to Pūṣan and to Vāyu — the two who with bounty inspire our thoughts, who themselves give the wealth of strength.
10. O Jātavedas, being invoked, bring hither the Maruts, all of them, by their names, by their forms. Come, all you Maruts, with all your help, to the sacrifice, to the singer's songs and fine praise.
11. Let venerable Sarasvatī come to our sacrifice, from the lofty heaven, from the mountain. Let the goddess, delighting in the call, rich with ghee, eagerly hear our powerful speech.
12. Seat the great ordainer Bṛhaspati, dark-backed, in his place. May we serve him, seated in his abode in the house, shining, gold-colored, ruddy.
13. Let the sustainer from the lofty heaven come, generous, invoked with all his help — clothing himself in the plants like the divine women, unfailing, the bull with threefold horns, the giver of vigor.
14. In the mother's highest, bright abode of Āyu, the admiring ones, rich in devotion, have come. Offering oblations with homage, they adorn the dear child, as men adorn a child for its garment.
15. O Agni, great one, may great vigor come to you; may the couples who grow old in devotion attain it. Let every god be easy for me to call upon; let not mother Earth place us in ill will.
16. O gods, may we dwell in a wide, unconfined space.
17. May we come together with the fresh help of the two Aśvins, the bringers of joy, with their good guidance. Bring us wealth, and heroic sons, O immortal ones, and all good fortunes.
Translator's note: several verses use compressed ritual vocabulary whose referents are uncertain. Verse 4 describes the pressing-stone and fingers milking soma from the stalk; the exact grammatical subject of "resounding" is ambiguous. Verse 7 concerns the gharma, the heated milk-vessel of the Pravargya rite, and its relation to Agni is stated more by juxtaposition than by explicit grammar. Verse 13's "sustainer" (dharṇasiḥ) is not named as a specific deity in the Sanskrit; the "bull with threefold horns" and "clothing himself in the plants like the divine women" are rendered conservatively, following the words rather than resolving them to a known figure. Verse 14's "admiring ones" and the birth-imagery of the "child" are likewise kept close to the Sanskrit rather than expanded.
Colophon
Rigveda V.43 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 V.43
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.
ā dhenavaḥ payasā tūrṇyarthā amardhantīr upa no yantu madhvā |
maho rāye bṛhatīḥ sapta vipro mayobhuvo jaritā johavīti || 1 ||
ā suṣṭutī namasā vartayadhyai dyāvā vājāya pṛthivī amṛdhre |
pitā mātā madhuvacāḥ suhastā bhare-bhare no yaśasāv aviṣṭām || 2 ||
adhvaryavaś cakṛvāṁso madhūni pra vāyave bharata cāru śukram |
hoteva naḥ prathamaḥ pāhy asya deva madhvo rarimā te madāya || 3 ||
daśa kṣipo yuñjate bāhū adriṁ somasya yā śamitārā suhastā |
madhvo rasaṁ sugabhastir giriṣṭhāṁ caniścadad duduhe śukram aṁśuḥ || 4 ||
asāvi te jujuṣāṇāya somaḥ kratve dakṣāya bṛhate madāya |
harī rathe sudhurā yoge arvāg indra priyā kṛṇuhi hūyamānaḥ || 5 ||
ā no mahīm aramatiṁ sajoṣā gnāṁ devīṁ namasā rātahavyām |
madhor madāya bṛhatīm ṛtajñām āgne vaha pathibhir devayānaiḥ || 6 ||
añjanti yam prathayanto na viprā vapāvantaṁ nāgninā tapantaḥ |
pitur na putra upasi preṣṭha ā gharmo agnim ṛtayann asādi || 7 ||
acchā mahī bṛhatī śaṁtamā gīr dūto na gantv aśvinā huvadhyai |
mayobhuvā sarathā yātam arvāg gantaṁ nidhiṁ dhuram āṇir na nābhim || 8 ||
pra tavyaso namaüktiṁ turasyāham pūṣṇa uta vāyor adikṣi |
yā rādhasā coditārā matīnāṁ yā vājasya draviṇodā uta tman || 9 ||
ā nāmabhir maruto vakṣi viśvān ā rūpebhir jātavedo huvānaḥ |
yajñaṁ giro jarituḥ suṣṭutiṁ ca viśve ganta maruto viśva ūtī || 10 ||
ā no divo bṛhataḥ parvatād ā sarasvatī yajatā gantu yajñam |
havaṁ devī jujuṣāṇā ghṛtācī śagmāṁ no vācam uśatī śṛṇotu || 11 ||
ā vedhasaṁ nīlapṛṣṭham bṛhantam bṛhaspatiṁ sadane sādayadhvam |
sādadyoniṁ dama ā dīdivāṁsaṁ hiraṇyavarṇam aruṣaṁ sapema || 12 ||
ā dharṇasir bṛhaddivo rarāṇo viśvebhir gantv omabhir huvānaḥ |
gnā vasāna oṣadhīr amṛdhras tridhātuśṛṅgo vṛṣabho vayodhāḥ || 13 ||
mātuṣ pade parame śukra āyor vipanyavo rāspirāso agman |
suśevyaṁ namasā rātahavyāḥ śiśum mṛjanty āyavo na vāse || 14 ||
bṛhad vayo bṛhate tubhyam agne dhiyājuro mithunāsaḥ sacanta |
devo-devaḥ suhavo bhūtu mahyam mā no mātā pṛthivī durmatau dhāt || 15 ||
urau devā anibādhe syāma || 16 ||
sam aśvinor avasā nūtanena mayobhuvā supraṇītī gamema |
ā no rayiṁ vahatam ota vīrān ā viśvāny amṛtā saubhagāni || 17 ||
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).