Hymn to Parjanya
Rigveda V.83 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. Speak out to the mighty one with these songs; praise Parjanya, seek to win him with homage. The roaring bull, quick to give, lays his seed, the germ, in the plants.
2. He splits the trees apart, and he strikes down the demons; the whole world fears his great weapon. Even the guiltless one moves away from the powerful one, when Parjanya, thundering, strikes down those who do evil.
3. Like a charioteer lashing on his horses with a whip, he brings his messengers of rain into view. From afar the roars rise up like a lion's, when Parjanya makes the sky heavy with rain.
4. The winds blow forth, the lightnings fly, the plants shoot upward, the sky swells. Nourishment is born for every creature, when Parjanya floods the earth with his seed.
5. At whose command the earth bows down, at whose command it quivers like a hoofed thing, at whose command the plants of every form grow — grant us, O Parjanya, great shelter.
6. O Maruts, grant us rain from heaven; make the streams of the stallion swell and pour. Come toward us with this thunder, pouring down the waters, our father, the mighty lord.
7. Roar out, thunder, set the germ in place; fly around with your water-bearing chariot. Draw well the loosened waterskin, turned downward; let the high ground and the low become level.
8. Tip up the great vessel and pour it down; let the released streams flow forward. Drench heaven and earth with fatness; let there be good water to drink for the cows.
9. When you, O Parjanya, roaring, thundering, strike down those who do evil, then all this rejoices — whatever there is upon the earth.
10. You have poured down rain — now hold it back; you have made the dry lands passable. You have brought the plants into being for food, and you have won a blessing for your creatures too.
Translator's note: verse 10's final phrase ("kam uta prajābhyo 'vido manīṣām") is compact and admits more than one reading; "manīṣā" (thought, insight, devotion) is rendered here conservatively as "blessing," in the sense of a favorable disposition Parjanya has secured for his creatures, rather than a claim about a specific gift.
Colophon
Rigveda V.83 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.83
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.
acchā vada tavasaṁ gīrbhir ābhiḥ stuhi parjanyaṁ namasā vivāsa |
kanikradad vṛṣabho jīradānū reto dadhāty oṣadhīṣu garbham || 1 ||
vi vṛkṣān hanty uta hanti rakṣaso viśvam bibhāya bhuvanam mahāvadhāt |
utānāgā īṣate vṛṣṇyāvato yat parjanyaḥ stanayan hanti duṣkṛtaḥ || 2 ||
rathīva kaśayāśvām̐ abhikṣipann āvir dūtān kṛṇute varṣyā3m̐ aha |
dūrāt siṁhasya stanathā ud īrate yat parjanyaḥ kṛṇute varṣya1ṁ nabhaḥ || 3 ||
pra vātā vānti patayanti vidyuta ud oṣadhīr jihate pinvate svaḥ |
irā viśvasmai bhuvanāya jāyate yat parjanyaḥ pṛthivīṁ retasāvati || 4 ||
yasya vrate pṛthivī nannamīti yasya vrate śaphavaj jarbhurīti |
yasya vrata oṣadhīr viśvarūpāḥ sa naḥ parjanya mahi śarma yaccha || 5 ||
divo no vṛṣṭim maruto rarīdhvam pra pinvata vṛṣṇo aśvasya dhārāḥ |
arvāṅ etena stanayitnunehy apo niṣiñcann asuraḥ pitā naḥ || 6 ||
abhi kranda stanaya garbham ā dhā udanvatā pari dīyā rathena |
dṛtiṁ su karṣa viṣitaṁ nyañcaṁ samā bhavantūdvato nipādāḥ || 7 ||
mahāntaṁ kośam ud acā ni ṣiñca syandantāṁ kulyā viṣitāḥ purastāt |
ghṛtena dyāvāpṛthivī vy undhi suprapāṇam bhavatv aghnyābhyaḥ || 8 ||
yat parjanya kanikradat stanayan haṁsi duṣkṛtaḥ |
pratīdaṁ viśvam modate yat kiṁ ca pṛthivyām adhi || 9 ||
avarṣīr varṣam ud u ṣū gṛbhāyākar dhanvāny atyetavā u |
ajījana oṣadhīr bhojanāya kam uta prajābhyo 'vido manīṣām || 10 ||
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).