Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda V.76 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. Agni shines forth, the face of the Dawns; the god-seeking words of the inspired poets have risen up. Turn hither now, O charioteers — come here, O Aśvins, to the swollen gharma-offering.
2. You do not neglect what is duly prepared — not now, O Aśvins, when you are praised here, swiftest of travelers. At the approach of day come with your help, quickest pair, turning back want from the one who makes offering, most beneficent of all.
3. And come at the hour of the cattle-gathering, in the morning of the day, at midday, at sunrise. By day and by night, with your kindest help, the drink-offering to you, Aśvins, has been poured out — not only now, but always.
4. This indeed, from of old, is your place, your home; these are the houses, O Aśvins, this is the dwelling. Come to us from the lofty heaven, from the mountain, from the waters, carrying refreshment and strength.
5. May we come together with the fresh help of the Aśvins, the joy-bringing pair of good guidance. Bring us wealth, and heroic sons, and every good fortune, O immortal ones.
Translator's note: verse 2 compresses several epithets in dense sandhi (gamiṣṭhā "swiftest travelers," śambhaviṣṭhā "most beneficent") whose exact syntactic attachment is uncertain; the rendering above keeps the sense conservative rather than smoothing it into a cleaner English sentence. In verse 3, "na idānīm... tatāna" ("has extended, not only now") is read here as describing the offering's continuity from ancient times rather than a single occasion, which is the more natural sense of the perfect tense but not the only possible one.
Colophon
Rigveda V.76 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.76
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 bhāty agnir uṣasām anīkam ud viprāṇāṁ devayā vāco asthuḥ |
arvāñcā nūnaṁ rathyeha yātam pīpivāṁsam aśvinā gharmam accha || 1 ||
na saṁskṛtam pra mimīto gamiṣṭhānti nūnam aśvinopastuteha |
divābhipitve 'vasāgamiṣṭhā praty avartiṁ dāśuṣe śambhaviṣṭhā || 2 ||
utā yātaṁ saṁgave prātar ahno madhyaṁdina uditā sūryasya |
divā naktam avasā śaṁtamena nedānīm pītir aśvinā tatāna || 3 ||
idaṁ hi vām pradivi sthānam oka ime gṛhā aśvinedaṁ duroṇam |
ā no divo bṛhataḥ parvatād ādbhyo yātam iṣam ūrjaṁ vahantā || 4 ||
sam aśvinor avasā nūtanena mayobhuvā supraṇītī gamema |
ā no rayiṁ vahatam ota vīrān ā viśvāny amṛtā saubhagāni || 5 ||
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).