Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda V.81 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. The inspired poets yoke their mind, and they yoke their thoughts, toward the great, wise, inspired one. The one who knows the way has alone apportioned the priestly offices. Great is the surrounding praise of the god Savitṛ.
2. The seer puts on all forms; he has sent forth good fortune for the two-footed and the four-footed. Savitṛ the excellent has revealed the vault of heaven; he shines out following the course of dawn.
3. Whose course the other gods indeed followed — the greatness of that god, through his might. Who has measured out the earthly regions: he, the swift-moving god Savitṛ, measured the airy regions by his greatness.
4. And you go, O Savitṛ, through the three bright realms, and you are joined with the rays of the sun. And you go around the night on both sides, and you become an ally, O god, through your ordinances.
5. And you alone rule over impulsion, and you become Pūṣan, O god, through your courses. And you rule over this whole world; Śyāvāśva has reached your praise-song, O Savitṛ.
Translator's note: verse 3's "etaśaḥ" (rendered "swift-moving") is an epithet elsewhere tied to a racing horse or charioteer associated with Sūrya; here it functions as a descriptor of Savitṛ's motion, not a separate name. Verse 5 names Śyāvāśva, the seer traditionally credited with this hymn, as the singer of the praise it contains.
Colophon
Rigveda V.81 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.81
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.
yuñjate mana uta yuñjate dhiyo viprā viprasya bṛhato vipaścitaḥ |
vi hotrā dadhe vayunāvid eka in mahī devasya savituḥ pariṣṭutiḥ || 1 ||
viśvā rūpāṇi prati muñcate kaviḥ prāsāvīd bhadraṁ dvipade catuṣpade |
vi nākam akhyat savitā vareṇyo 'nu prayāṇam uṣaso vi rājati || 2 ||
yasya prayāṇam anv anya id yayur devā devasya mahimānam ojasā |
yaḥ pārthivāni vimame sa etaśo rajāṁsi devaḥ savitā mahitvanā || 3 ||
uta yāsi savitas trīṇi rocanota sūryasya raśmibhiḥ sam ucyasi |
uta rātrīm ubhayataḥ parīyasa uta mitro bhavasi deva dharmabhiḥ || 4 ||
uteśiṣe prasavasya tvam eka id uta pūṣā bhavasi deva yāmabhiḥ |
utedaṁ viśvam bhuvanaṁ vi rājasi śyāvāśvas te savitaḥ stomam ānaśe || 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).