Hymn to Mitra and Varuṇa
Rigveda V.62 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. By truth your truth lies hidden and firm, there where they unyoke the Sun's horses. A thousand stood together as one — I have seen that, the fairest of the forms of the gods.
2. That, Mitra and Varuṇa, is truly your greatness: the standing ones have been milked out by the days. You two swell all the milk-streams of the pasture; behind you a single wheel-rim has turned.
3. You upheld earth and heaven, Mitra and King Varuṇa, by your might. Make the plants grow, swell the cows with milk, send down the rain, you whose gifts flow swiftly.
4. Let your well-yoked horses bring you here; let them come this way, reins in hand. A robe of ghee follows after you both; the rivers flow forth as they have flowed of old.
5. May the renowned, wide hymn grow, guarded by the sacrificial word as the sacred grass is guarded. Reverent, holding fast to strength, upon your seat you two are Mitra and Varuṇa, amid the offerings.
6. Gentle-handed, protectors from afar of the one who acts well, whom you two shelter amid the offerings — kings, unangered, you two together bear the dominion with its thousand pillars.
7. Golden-robed, its pillar of metal shines out in heaven like a bolt of light. Set firm in a fair field, in rich soil, may we win a share of the sweetness that belongs to your high seat.
8. Golden in form at the breaking of dawn, with a pillar of metal at the rising of the sun — you two, Varuṇa and Mitra, mount your seat; from there you look upon Aditi the boundless and Diti the bound.
9. Whatever shelter is strongest, unbroken, not to be pierced, you of good gifts, guardians of the world — with that protect us, Mitra and Varuṇa; seeking to win, may we be victorious.
Translator's note: several phrases in this hymn are genuinely obscure in the Sanskrit — among them "īrmā tasthuṣīḥ" (verse 2, rendered conservatively as "the standing ones"), the syntax of "mitrāsāthe varuṇā" (verse 5, "you two are Mitra and Varuṇa"), and "aśvājanīva" (verse 7, rendered "like a bolt of light"). These are translated cautiously rather than confidently; readers consulting the Sanskrit below should treat those lines as uncertain.
Colophon
Rigveda V.62 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.62
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.
ṛtena ṛtam apihitaṁ dhruvaṁ vāṁ sūryasya yatra vimucanty aśvān |
daśa śatā saha tasthus tad ekaṁ devānāṁ śreṣṭhaṁ vapuṣām apaśyam || 1 ||
tat su vām mitrāvaruṇā mahitvam īrmā tasthuṣīr ahabhir duduhre |
viśvāḥ pinvathaḥ svasarasya dhenā anu vām ekaḥ pavir ā vavarta || 2 ||
adhārayatam pṛthivīm uta dyām mitrarājānā varuṇā mahobhiḥ |
vardhayatam oṣadhīḥ pinvataṁ gā ava vṛṣṭiṁ sṛjataṁ jīradānū || 3 ||
ā vām aśvāsaḥ suyujo vahantu yataraśmaya upa yantv arvāk |
ghṛtasya nirṇig anu vartate vām upa sindhavaḥ pradivi kṣaranti || 4 ||
anu śrutām amatiṁ vardhad urvīm barhir iva yajuṣā rakṣamāṇā |
namasvantā dhṛtadakṣādhi garte mitrāsāthe varuṇeḻāsv antaḥ || 5 ||
akravihastā sukṛte paraspā yaṁ trāsāthe varuṇeḻāsv antaḥ |
rājānā kṣatram ahṛṇīyamānā sahasrasthūṇam bibhṛthaḥ saha dvau || 6 ||
hiraṇyanirṇig ayo asya sthūṇā vi bhrājate divy a1śvājanīva |
bhadre kṣetre nimitā tilvile vā sanema madhvo adhigartyasya || 7 ||
hiraṇyarūpam uṣaso vyuṣṭāv ayaḥsthūṇam uditā sūryasya |
ā rohatho varuṇa mitra gartam ataś cakṣāthe aditiṁ ditiṁ ca || 8 ||
yad baṁhiṣṭhaṁ nātividhe sudānū acchidraṁ śarma bhuvanasya gopā |
tena no mitrāvaruṇāv aviṣṭaṁ siṣāsanto jigīvāṁsaḥ syāma || 9 ||
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).