Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda V.57 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. Come here, O Rudras, companions of Indra, of one accord, golden-charioted, for our good fortune. This hymn of ours reaches out toward you, as springs of water from heaven reach a creature that thirsts and craves water.
2. Armed with axes, armed with spears, wise in mind, with good bows, with arrows, with quivers — you have fine horses and fine chariots, sons of Pṛśni. Well-armed, O Maruts, you travel forth in splendor.
3. You shake heaven and the mountains for the goods you give the worshiper; the forests bend down in fear at your passing. You stir up the earth, sons of Pṛśni, when, fierce ones, you yoke your dappled mares for splendor.
4. Wind-bright, rain-clad Maruts, like twins well-matched and finely adorned; tawny-horsed, ruddy-horsed, without blemish, full of vigor, vast in greatness like the sky.
5. Rich in rain-drops, anointed, generous givers, dazzling to see, whose bounty is never withheld; well-born by birth, gold-breasted — as rays/songs of heaven they have taken the name of the immortal.
6. Your spears, O Maruts, rest upon your shoulders; might and strength are set in your arms. Manly power is on your heads, weapons on your chariots; every splendor is fitted onto your bodies.
7. Give us wealth rich in cattle, horses, chariots, strong sons, and gold, O Maruts. Grant us renown, sons of Rudra; let me share in your divine favor.
8. Hear us, men, O Maruts — be gracious to us, you of great bounty, immortal, knowers of the sacred order; truly renowned, seers, ever young, of the great mountains, swelling mightily.
Translator's note: verse 5's "divo arkā" (literally "rays/hymns of heaven") is kept ambiguous between light-imagery and song-imagery, since Sanskrit "arka" carries both senses. In verse 8, "bṛhadgirayaḥ" is rendered conservatively as "of the great mountains" — the word could also mean "of great voice," since giri can mean either "mountain" or (via a related root) "song/voice"; and "bṛhad ukṣamāṇāḥ" ("swelling/growing mightily") plays on ukṣ, which covers both rain sprinkling down and the Maruts' own vigor increasing — no single English word carries both at once.
Colophon
Rigveda V.57 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.57
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 rudrāsa indravantaḥ sajoṣaso hiraṇyarathāḥ suvitāya gantana |
iyaṁ vo asmat prati haryate matis tṛṣṇaje na diva utsā udanyave || 1 ||
vāśīmanta ṛṣṭimanto manīṣiṇaḥ sudhanvāna iṣumanto niṣaṅgiṇaḥ |
svaśvāḥ stha surathāḥ pṛśnimātaraḥ svāyudhā maruto yāthanā śubham || 2 ||
dhūnutha dyām parvatān dāśuṣe vasu ni vo vanā jihate yāmano bhiyā |
kopayatha pṛthivīm pṛśnimātaraḥ śubhe yad ugrāḥ pṛṣatīr ayugdhvam || 3 ||
vātatviṣo maruto varṣanirṇijo yamā iva susadṛśaḥ supeśasaḥ |
piśaṅgāśvā aruṇāśvā arepasaḥ pratvakṣaso mahinā dyaur ivoravaḥ || 4 ||
purudrapsā añjimantaḥ sudānavas tveṣasaṁdṛśo anavabhrarādhasaḥ |
sujātāso januṣā rukmavakṣaso divo arkā amṛtaṁ nāma bhejire || 5 ||
ṛṣṭayo vo maruto aṁsayor adhi saha ojo bāhvor vo balaṁ hitam |
nṛmṇā śīrṣasv āyudhā ratheṣu vo viśvā vaḥ śrīr adhi tanūṣu pipiśe || 6 ||
gomad aśvāvad rathavat suvīraṁ candravad rādho maruto dadā naḥ |
praśastiṁ naḥ kṛṇuta rudriyāso bhakṣīya vo 'vaso daivyasya || 7 ||
haye naro maruto mṛḻatā nas tuvīmaghāso amṛtā ṛtajñāḥ |
satyaśrutaḥ kavayo yuvāno bṛhadgirayo bṛhad ukṣamāṇāḥ || 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).