Hymn to the Viśvedevas (All-Gods)
Rigveda V.47 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. Yoking herself, she comes from heaven, speaking — the great mother, waking her daughter; the young woman, seeking to win favor with her thought, calls out to the fathers at their seat.
2. The swift ones, going forth on that path, have taken their stand at the navel of the immortal; endless, wide on every side, their roads run around heaven and earth.
3. The bull, the ocean, the ruddy well-winged one, has entered the womb of the ancient father; set down in the middle of heaven, the mottled stone has strode across, guarding the two ends of the mid-realm.
4. Four, dwelling secure, carry him; ten give suck to the germ so that he may move. Threefold and supreme are his rays; in a single day they range around the ends of heaven.
5. This is the wondrous riddle people tell: that the waters travel on while the rivers stand still; that two others, not the mother, bear him — born here and there, twins and kin.
6. For him they extend their rites and thoughts; the mothers weave garments for the son. Rejoicing close at hand, the bulls wait, and the young brides go toward them by the path of heaven.
7. Let it be so, Mitra and Varuṇa; let it be so, Agni — let this be well-being and peace for us, let this be proclaimed. May we find footing and a firm place to stand. Homage to the vast heaven, to its dwelling place.
Translator's note: verses 1–6 are among the Rigveda's deliberately riddling ("brahmodya"-style) passages — mother/daughter, bull/ocean, "four" and "ten," waters that move while rivers stand still — and their referents (Dawn, Agni, the sun, the rivers, ritual acts) are debated rather than fixed. This translation renders the images as the Sanskrit states them, without resolving the riddles into a single reading.
Colophon
Rigveda V.47 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.47
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.
prayuñjatī diva eti bruvāṇā mahī mātā duhitur bodhayantī |
āvivāsantī yuvatir manīṣā pitṛbhya ā sadane johuvānā || 1 ||
ajirāsas tadapa īyamānā ātasthivāṁso amṛtasya nābhim |
anantāsa uravo viśvataḥ sīm pari dyāvāpṛthivī yanti panthāḥ || 2 ||
ukṣā samudro aruṣaḥ suparṇaḥ pūrvasya yonim pitur ā viveśa |
madhye divo nihitaḥ pṛśnir aśmā vi cakrame rajasas pāty antau || 3 ||
catvāra īm bibhrati kṣemayanto daśa garbhaṁ carase dhāpayante |
tridhātavaḥ paramā asya gāvo divaś caranti pari sadyo antān || 4 ||
idaṁ vapur nivacanaṁ janāsaś caranti yan nadyas tasthur āpaḥ |
dve yad īm bibhṛto mātur anye iheha jāte yamyā3 sabandhū || 5 ||
vi tanvate dhiyo asmā apāṁsi vastrā putrāya mātaro vayanti |
upaprakṣe vṛṣaṇo modamānā divas pathā vadhvo yanty accha || 6 ||
tad astu mitrāvaruṇā tad agne śaṁ yor asmabhyam idam astu śastam |
aśīmahi gādham uta pratiṣṭhāṁ namo dive bṛhate sādanāya || 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).