Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda V.59 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. Your watcher has gone forth to grant us prosperity. I will sing to heaven; I bring forth truth and order from the earth. They anoint their horses; they cross the wide realm of air; they loosen their own radiance with floods of rain.
2. From their might, through fear of them, the earth trembles, streaming like a full boat that totters as it goes. They who are seen from afar, shining out in their courses—the men have taken their stand within the great gathering.
3. For splendor, like the topmost horn among cattle, like the sun's eye at the opening of the sky's expanse—like fine, vigorous steeds you are handsome; like young warriors, O men, you show yourselves for glory.
4. Who could reach your great deeds, you great ones? Who your wisdom, Maruts? Who indeed your manly strength? You make the earth quake like scattered dust when you come forward to grant us prosperity.
5. Like ruddy horses, kinsmen together, like warriors eager for battle, they have fought; like thriving young men the men have grown strong; with their rains they dim the eye of the sun.
6. They—with none eldest, none youngest, none in between—breaking forth, have grown great through their power; well-born by birth, sons of Pṛśni. O young men of heaven, come here to us.
7. They who like birds have flown in ranks with force around the far ridges of the high heaven—their horses, as both kinds of beings know—have shaken loose the springs of the mountain.
8. Let Heaven, let Aditi grant us abundance for our enjoyment; let the dawns rich with moisture come together. These Maruts, sons of Rudra, being praised, O seer, have shaken loose the heavenly vessel.
Translator's note: several phrases are compressed and elliptical in the Sanskrit — "ubhaye" in verse 7 ("both kinds," of uncertain reference, rendered here conservatively as "both kinds of beings"), and the string of negated compounds in verse 6 describing the Maruts as having no eldest, youngest, or middle member. These are rendered literally rather than smoothed over.
Colophon
Rigveda V.59 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.59
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.
pra vaḥ spaḻ akran suvitāya dāvane 'rcā dive pra pṛthivyā ṛtam bhare |
ukṣante aśvān taruṣanta ā rajo 'nu svam bhānuṁ śrathayante arṇavaiḥ || 1 ||
amād eṣām bhiyasā bhūmir ejati naur na pūrṇā kṣarati vyathir yatī |
dūredṛśo ye citayanta emabhir antar mahe vidathe yetire naraḥ || 2 ||
gavām iva śriyase śṛṅgam uttamaṁ sūryo na cakṣū rajaso visarjane |
atyā iva subhva1ś cāravaḥ sthana maryā iva śriyase cetathā naraḥ || 3 ||
ko vo mahānti mahatām ud aśnavat kas kāvyā marutaḥ ko ha pauṁsyā |
yūyaṁ ha bhūmiṁ kiraṇaṁ na rejatha pra yad bharadhve suvitāya dāvane || 4 ||
aśvā ived aruṣāsaḥ sabandhavaḥ śūrā iva prayudhaḥ prota yuyudhuḥ |
maryā iva suvṛdho vāvṛdhur naraḥ sūryasya cakṣuḥ pra minanti vṛṣṭibhiḥ || 5 ||
te ajyeṣṭhā akaniṣṭhāsa udbhido 'madhyamāso mahasā vi vāvṛdhuḥ |
sujātāso januṣā pṛśnimātaro divo maryā ā no acchā jigātana || 6 ||
vayo na ye śreṇīḥ paptur ojasāntān divo bṛhataḥ sānunas pari |
aśvāsa eṣām ubhaye yathā viduḥ pra parvatasya nabhanūm̐r acucyavuḥ || 7 ||
mimātu dyaur aditir vītaye naḥ saṁ dānucitrā uṣaso yatantām |
ācucyavur divyaṁ kośam eta ṛṣe rudrasya maruto gṛṇānāḥ || 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).