Riddles, the Maruts, and the Gift of Rathavīti
Rigveda V.61 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 hymn is attributed to the seer Śyāvāśva Ātreya.
The hymn opens with a riddling exchange about unnamed men who arrive from far away (verses 1–9) — enigmatic language about horses, heroes, and women that has puzzled translators since antiquity. It then turns to praise of the Maruts, the storm-troop of young warrior gods (verses 13–16), and closes as a dāna-stuti, a hymn of thanks naming the poet's patron, Rathavīti Dārbhya, and the gifts of cattle and horses he gave (verses 5, 10, 17–19). This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. Who are you, men — most excellent — who have come, each one alone, from the farthest distance?
2. Where are your horses, where the reins? How were you able, how did you travel? — the seat upon the back, the curb upon the muzzle.
3. At their flank, the goad: the men spread their thighs, as women do in the act of bearing a son.
4. Go forth, heroes, young men with good wives, that you may become like ones tempered by fire.
5. He won herds with horses, and cattle, and a hundred sheep — riches heaped up for the hero praised as Śyāvāśva.
6. And a woman, the more excellent, becomes better than a man — than a godless man without generosity.
7. She who discerns the weary one, the thirsty one, the one full of desire, and turns her mind toward the gods —
8. and indeed a stingy man, half-praised, is called "he is a man" — a Paṇi; he is no more than one who merely pays what is owed.
9. And to me a young woman spoke, rejoicing, of Śyāva's path — the two bay mares stretched forth for Purumīḷha, the inspired poet of long-lasting fame.
10. He who gave me a hundred milk-cows, as Vaidadaśvi gave, as if surpassing all others in bounty —
11. those who carry him with swift horses, drinking the intoxicating mead, have won renown here.
12. By whose splendor the two worlds shine forth, upon their chariots, like a golden ornament above in the sky —
13. young is that troop of the Maruts, with its blazing chariot, blameless, moving in beauty, unhindered.
14. Who now knows where they rejoice, the shakers, born of the cosmic order, spotless?
15. You, marvelous ones, are the mortal's true guides through insight, listeners at the calls that summon your coming.
16. May they, the much-gleaming, foe-devouring, worshipful ones, turn toward us bringing desirable riches.
17. Carry this, my hymn of praise, O Ūrmyā, onward to Dārbhya — my songs, O goddess, as a charioteer carries.
18. And say this to Rathavīti, in whose house the soma is pressed: my desire does not leave me.
19. This bounteous Rathavīti dwells along the cattle-rich waters, sheltered among the mountains.
Translator's note: Verses 1–9 are among the most enigmatic in the Rigveda; ancient and modern interpreters alike have struggled with them, and no confident narrative connects the riddling questions about arriving strangers (1–2), the imagery of verse 3, and the praise of women in 6–9. The rendering above stays close to the Sanskrit word order rather than resolving the riddle. "Nasor yamaḥ" (2) literally names a curb or restraint at the nostrils/muzzle of a horse. "Vairadeya" (8) is obscure — rendered conservatively as "one who pays what is owed." "Ūrmye" (17) is left as a proper name/vocative rather than translated, since its referent (possibly a river or a personified wave) is uncertain.
Colophon
Rigveda V.61 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.61
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.
ke ṣṭhā naraḥ śreṣṭhatamā ya eka-eka āyaya |
paramasyāḥ parāvataḥ || 1 ||
kva1 vo 'śvāḥ kvā3bhīśavaḥ kathaṁ śeka kathā yaya |
pṛṣṭhe sado nasor yamaḥ || 2 ||
jaghane coda eṣāṁ vi sakthāni naro yamuḥ |
putrakṛthe na janayaḥ || 3 ||
parā vīrāsa etana maryāso bhadrajānayaḥ |
agnitapo yathāsatha || 4 ||
sanat sāśvyam paśum uta gavyaṁ śatāvayam |
śyāvāśvastutāya yā dor vīrāyopabarbṛhat || 5 ||
uta tvā strī śaśīyasī puṁso bhavati vasyasī |
adevatrād arādhasaḥ || 6 ||
vi yā jānāti jasuriṁ vi tṛṣyantaṁ vi kāminam |
devatrā kṛṇute manaḥ || 7 ||
uta ghā nemo astutaḥ pumām̐ iti bruve paṇiḥ |
sa vairadeya it samaḥ || 8 ||
uta me 'rapad yuvatir mamanduṣī prati śyāvāya vartanim |
vi rohitā purumīḻhāya yematur viprāya dīrghayaśase || 9 ||
yo me dhenūnāṁ śataṁ vaidadaśvir yathā dadat |
taranta iva maṁhanā || 10 ||
ya īṁ vahanta āśubhiḥ pibanto madiram madhu |
atra śravāṁsi dadhire || 11 ||
yeṣāṁ śriyādhi rodasī vibhrājante ratheṣv ā |
divi rukma ivopari || 12 ||
yuvā sa māruto gaṇas tveṣaratho anedyaḥ |
śubhaṁyāvāpratiṣkutaḥ || 13 ||
ko veda nūnam eṣāṁ yatrā madanti dhūtayaḥ |
ṛtajātā arepasaḥ || 14 ||
yūyam martaṁ vipanyavaḥ praṇetāra itthā dhiyā |
śrotāro yāmahūtiṣu || 15 ||
te no vasūni kāmyā puruścandrā riśādasaḥ |
ā yajñiyāso vavṛttana || 16 ||
etam me stomam ūrmye dārbhyāya parā vaha |
giro devi rathīr iva || 17 ||
uta me vocatād iti sutasome rathavītau |
na kāmo apa veti me || 18 ||
eṣa kṣeti rathavītir maghavā gomatīr anu |
parvateṣv apaśritaḥ || 19 ||
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).