Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda V.46 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.
1. Like a horse who knows his work, I have yoked myself to the pole. I pull it onward, this carrying poem, seeking help. I do not want to be unyoked from it, nor turned back again — knowing the paths, going ahead of it, it will lead me straight.
2. Agni, Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, gods — send forward the Marut host, and Viṣṇu too. Let both Nāsatyas, and Rudra, and then the divine wives, Pūṣan, Bhaga, Sarasvatī, take pleasure in this.
3. Indra-and-Agni, Mitra-and-Varuṇa, Aditi, the sky, the earth, the heaven, the Maruts, the mountains, the waters — I call on Viṣṇu, Pūṣan, Brahmaṇaspati, Bhaga, and now Śaṃsa and Savitṛ, for help.
4. And may Viṣṇu, and Vāta who never fails, the wealth-giver, and Soma bring us joy. And the Ṛbhus, and the Aśvins for our riches, and Tvaṣṭṛ, and Vibhvan — may they take notice of us.
5. And may that Marut host of ours come, the one that dwells in heaven, worthy of worship, to sit on the sacred grass. May Bṛhaspati and Pūṣan grant us shelter, and Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman grant their sheltering protection.
6. And may those mountains of ours, well-praised, bright-shining, and the rivers, stand for our protection. May Bhaga the distributor come with strength and help; may wide-reaching Aditi hear my call.
7. May the willing wives of the gods protect us; may they further us toward offspring and the winning of strength. Those who belong to the earth, and those bound to the ordinance of the waters — you goddesses, easily called upon, grant us shelter.
8. And may the divine wives, the wives of the gods, draw near — Indrāṇī, Agnāyī, the ruling Aśvinī. May the two world-halves, and Varuṇānī, hear; may the goddesses whose office governs the seasons of women draw near.
Translator's note: verse 1 compares the poet's composition to a horse yoked and driven forward — a standard Rigvedic figure for the making of a hymn. "Ṛtu... janīnām" in verse 8 (rendered here as "the seasons of women") is a compressed, disputed phrase; it is translated conservatively as referring to the goddesses' governance of women's cycles or order, without claiming certainty beyond that.
Colophon
Rigveda V.46 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.46
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.
hayo na vidvām̐ ayuji svayaṁ dhuri tāṁ vahāmi prataraṇīm avasyuvam |
nāsyā vaśmi vimucaṁ nāvṛtam punar vidvān pathaḥ puraeta ṛju neṣati || 1 ||
agna indra varuṇa mitra devāḥ śardhaḥ pra yanta mārutota viṣṇo |
ubhā nāsatyā rudro adha gnāḥ pūṣā bhagaḥ sarasvatī juṣanta || 2 ||
indrāgnī mitrāvaruṇāditiṁ svaḥ pṛthivīṁ dyām marutaḥ parvatām̐ apaḥ |
huve viṣṇum pūṣaṇam brahmaṇas patim bhagaṁ nu śaṁsaṁ savitāram ūtaye || 3 ||
uta no viṣṇur uta vāto asridho draviṇodā uta somo mayas karat |
uta ṛbhava uta rāye no aśvinota tvaṣṭota vibhvānu maṁsate || 4 ||
uta tyan no mārutaṁ śardha ā gamad divikṣayaṁ yajatam barhir āsade |
bṛhaspatiḥ śarma pūṣota no yamad varūthya1ṁ varuṇo mitro aryamā || 5 ||
uta tye naḥ parvatāsaḥ suśastayaḥ sudītayo nadya1s trāmaṇe bhuvan |
bhago vibhaktā śavasāvasā gamad uruvyacā aditiḥ śrotu me havam || 6 ||
devānām patnīr uśatīr avantu naḥ prāvantu nas tujaye vājasātaye |
yāḥ pārthivāso yā apām api vrate tā no devīḥ suhavāḥ śarma yacchata || 7 ||
uta gnā vyantu devapatnīr indrāṇy a1gnāyy aśvinī rāṭ |
ā rodasī varuṇānī śṛṇotu vyantu devīr ya ṛtur janīnām || 8 ||
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).