Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda V.51 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. O Agni, come with all your helpers to drink of the pressed soma; come with the gods to receive the offering.
2. Come, you whose thoughts are fixed on truth, whose ordinances are true, to the rite; drink with Agni's tongue.
3. O inspired, true Agni, come with the inspired ones who travel at dawn, with the gods, to drink the soma.
4. This soma, pressed, is poured into the two bowls, into the vessel, dear to Indra and Vāyu.
5. O Vāyu, come to the feast, delighting in the offering; drink of the pressed juice for its pleasure.
6. Indra and Vāyu, you two deserve to drink of these pressed offerings; enjoy them, you flawless pair, for your pleasure.
7. The soma-juices mixed with curds, pressed for Indra and Vāyu, flow toward the offering as rivers flow down to the depths.
8. In accord with all the gods, in accord with the two Aśvins and with Dawn, come, O Agni; rejoice in the pressed soma as you did for Atri.
9. In accord with Mitra and Varuṇa, in accord with Soma and Viṣṇu, come, O Agni; rejoice in the pressed soma as you did for Atri.
10. In accord with the Ādityas and the Vasus, in accord with Indra and Vāyu, come, O Agni; rejoice in the pressed soma as you did for Atri.
11. May the two Aśvins measure out well-being for us; may Bhaga grant well-being; may the goddess Aditi, unassailable, grant well-being; may mighty Pūṣan grant us well-being; may Heaven and Earth grant well-being with kindly mind.
12. For well-being let us call upon Vāyu, and upon Soma who is lord of the world, for well-being; upon Bṛhaspati with his whole troop, for well-being; may the Ādityas be for our well-being.
13. May all the gods today be for our well-being; may Vaiśvānara Agni, the good one, be for our well-being; may the gods, the Ṛbhus, favor us for well-being; may Rudra guard us with well-being from distress.
14. May Mitra and Varuṇa grant well-being; may Pathyā Revatī grant well-being; may Indra and Agni grant us well-being; O Aditi, make well-being for us.
15. May we walk our path in safety, like the sun and moon; may we meet again with one who gives freely, does no harm, and understands.
Translator's note: verse 4's "amatre" (rendered "into the vessel") is a rare word of uncertain precise sense, taken here in its general meaning of a container for the pressed soma. Verse 15's closing phrase, literally "with one giving again, not harming, knowing," is rendered as a single description of the person one hopes to meet again.
Colophon
Rigveda V.51 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.51
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.
agne sutasya pītaye viśvair ūmebhir ā gahi |
devebhir havyadātaye || 1 ||
ṛtadhītaya ā gata satyadharmāṇo adhvaram |
agneḥ pibata jihvayā || 2 ||
viprebhir vipra santya prātaryāvabhir ā gahi |
devebhiḥ somapītaye || 3 ||
ayaṁ somaś camū suto 'matre pari ṣicyate |
priya indrāya vāyave || 4 ||
vāyav ā yāhi vītaye juṣāṇo havyadātaye |
pibā sutasyāndhaso abhi prayaḥ || 5 ||
indraś ca vāyav eṣāṁ sutānām pītim arhathaḥ |
tāñ juṣethām arepasāv abhi prayaḥ || 6 ||
sutā indrāya vāyave somāso dadhyāśiraḥ |
nimnaṁ na yanti sindhavo 'bhi prayaḥ || 7 ||
sajūr viśvebhir devebhir aśvibhyām uṣasā sajūḥ |
ā yāhy agne atrivat sute raṇa || 8 ||
sajūr mitrāvaruṇābhyāṁ sajūḥ somena viṣṇunā |
ā yāhy agne atrivat sute raṇa || 9 ||
sajūr ādityair vasubhiḥ sajūr indreṇa vāyunā |
ā yāhy agne atrivat sute raṇa || 10 ||
svasti no mimītām aśvinā bhagaḥ svasti devy aditir anarvaṇaḥ |
svasti pūṣā asuro dadhātu naḥ svasti dyāvāpṛthivī sucetunā || 11 ||
svastaye vāyum upa bravāmahai somaṁ svasti bhuvanasya yas patiḥ |
bṛhaspatiṁ sarvagaṇaṁ svastaye svastaya ādityāso bhavantu naḥ || 12 ||
viśve devā no adyā svastaye vaiśvānaro vasur agniḥ svastaye |
devā avantv ṛbhavaḥ svastaye svasti no rudraḥ pātv aṁhasaḥ || 13 ||
svasti mitrāvaruṇā svasti pathye revati |
svasti na indraś cāgniś ca svasti no adite kṛdhi || 14 ||
svasti panthām anu carema sūryācandramasāv iva |
punar dadatāghnatā jānatā saṁ gamemahi || 15 ||
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).