Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda V.87 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. Let our hymns go forth to the great one, to Viṣṇu who is accompanied by the Maruts, the mountain-born — O Evayāmarut! Forth to the host, worthy of worship, of easy approach, the mighty one, of praiseworthy purpose, whose way is the roaring one, forth to that strength.
2. Those who were born through greatness, and who now themselves speak forth in wisdom — O Evayāmarut! That strength of yours, O Maruts, is unassailable through your resolve; through their gifts, through their greatness, that strength of theirs is unconquered, like the mountains.
3. Those who are heard from the lofty heaven through their voice, brightly blazing, mighty ones — O Evayāmarut! Whose gathering-place none can seize, like fires with their own lightning, streaming forth like rushing torrents.
4. He, the wide-strider, strode forth from the great one, out of the common seat — O Evayāmarut! When he yoked himself, by his own will, from his own place, upon the heights, he goes, rivaling them, greatly mighty, prospering joy, together with his men.
5. Your sound, like a mighty bull, makes all tremble — brilliant, swift-moving, strong — O Evayāmarut! By which, overpowering, they press onward, self-luminous, with steady reins, golden, well-armed, impetuous.
6. Boundless is your greatness, O you of ever-growing strength; may your brilliant power protect us — O Evayāmarut! For you stand steadfast, visible in your onrush; protect us from reproach, blazing like fires.
7. Those sons of Rudra, mighty as fires, abounding in splendor, may they help us — O Evayāmarut! Long and wide has the earthly seat spread out, in whose courses are the great hosts, of wondrous, blameless power.
8. Free from hostility, O Maruts, come to us on the good path; hear the call of your praiser — O Evayāmarut! Sharing the zeal of great Viṣṇu, keep hatred away from us; like charioteers, by your wondrous skill, drive off enmities far away.
9. Come to our sacrifice, O you worthy of worship, at our well-performed rite; hear the call, guileless ones — O Evayāmarut! Like the greatest mountains in the sky, may you, wise, be hard to hold back against reproach.
Translator's note: This hymn is one of the most lexically difficult in the Rigveda, built on a refrain ("evayāmarut") that functions as a name or vocative address to the Maruts and is left untranslated here rather than guessed at. Several compounds are genuinely obscure and rendered conservatively: "girijā" (1) as "mountain-born"; the phrase "na yeṣām irī sadhastha īṣṭa" (3), where "irī" has no secure sense, is rendered loosely as "whose gathering-place none can seize"; "sthāraśmānaḥ" (5) as "steady-reined"; and "adbhutainasām" (7) as "wondrous, blameless power," since the compound's exact sense (wonder/guilt) is disputed.
Colophon
Rigveda V.87 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.87
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.
pra vo mahe matayo yantu viṣṇave marutvate girijā evayāmarut |
pra śardhāya prayajyave sukhādaye tavase bhandadiṣṭaye dhunivratāya śavase || 1 ||
pra ye jātā mahinā ye ca nu svayam pra vidmanā bruvata evayāmarut |
kratvā tad vo maruto nādhṛṣe śavo dānā mahnā tad eṣām adhṛṣṭāso nādrayaḥ || 2 ||
pra ye divo bṛhataḥ śṛṇvire girā suśukvānaḥ subhva evayāmarut |
na yeṣām irī sadhastha īṣṭa ām̐ agnayo na svavidyutaḥ pra syandrāso dhunīnām || 3 ||
sa cakrame mahato nir urukramaḥ samānasmāt sadasa evayāmarut |
yadāyukta tmanā svād adhi ṣṇubhir viṣpardhaso vimahaso jigāti śevṛdho nṛbhiḥ || 4 ||
svano na vo 'mavān rejayad vṛṣā tveṣo yayis taviṣa evayāmarut |
yenā sahanta ṛñjata svarociṣaḥ sthāraśmāno hiraṇyayāḥ svāyudhāsa iṣmiṇaḥ || 5 ||
apāro vo mahimā vṛddhaśavasas tveṣaṁ śavo 'vatv evayāmarut |
sthātāro hi prasitau saṁdṛśi sthana te na uruṣyatā nidaḥ śuśukvāṁso nāgnayaḥ || 6 ||
te rudrāsaḥ sumakhā agnayo yathā tuvidyumnā avantv evayāmarut |
dīrgham pṛthu paprathe sadma pārthivaṁ yeṣām ajmeṣv ā mahaḥ śardhāṁsy adbhutainasām || 7 ||
adveṣo no maruto gātum etana śrotā havaṁ jaritur evayāmarut |
viṣṇor mahaḥ samanyavo yuyotana smad rathyo3 na daṁsanāpa dveṣāṁsi sanutaḥ || 8 ||
gantā no yajñaṁ yajñiyāḥ suśami śrotā havam arakṣa evayāmarut |
jyeṣṭhāso na parvatāso vyomani yūyaṁ tasya pracetasaḥ syāta durdhartavo nidaḥ || 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).