Hymn to Agni, Pūṣan, and the Maruts
Rigveda VI.48 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 6 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. The hymn opens with praise of Agni (verses 1–10), turns to the milk-cow of poetic praise and the company of Indra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, and Viṣṇu (11–15), addresses Pūṣan directly (16–19), and closes with the Maruts (20–22).
1. With sacrifice after sacrifice for your Agni, and with hymn after hymn for the skillful one, we proclaim, again and again, the immortal Jātavedas — dear to us, like a friend.
2. To him, the offspring of strength, who desires us, may we, eager for him, give oblation. Let him be our helper in the contest for spoil, our strengthener, and the protector of our bodies.
3. For you, Agni, are the bull, ageless and great; you shine far with your flame. Blazing with unceasing brightness, O bright one, shine well with your fair lights.
4. You worship the great gods, worshiping them in due order, by your power and your wondrous deeds. Turn them here toward us, Agni, for our help — give us strength, and win it for us.
5. He whom the waters, the rocks, the woods nourish as the embryo of order — who, forcibly churned, is born by men upon the ridge of the earth.
6. He who has filled both worlds, heaven and earth, with his light, who races through the sky with his smoke, who is seen through the darkness amid the dusky waves — the ruddy bull among the dusky ones, the ruddy bull.
7. With your lofty flames, Agni, with your bright radiance, O god — kindled in Bharadvāja, O youngest one, shine wealth upon us, bright one; shine brilliance, O purifier.
8. You, Agni, are the house-lord of all the human clans. With a hundred strongholds, O youngest one, guard from distress the one who kindles you, for a hundred winters — and those who give to your praisers.
9. You, O wondrous one, with your help, O good one, urge on our gifts. Of this wealth you, Agni, are the charioteer — find firm footing for our offspring.
10. Carry our children and our offspring across, with your unfailing, unwavering guardians. Agni, drive away from us the angers of the gods, and the deceits of the godless.
11. Friends, drive here the honey-yielding cow with a new song of praise; set her loose, not to be driven off.
12. She who has milked out imperishable fame for the self-radiant troop of Maruts, who rests in the mercy of the swift Maruts, who moves along with their favor.
13. For Bharadvāja they have milked her twice over: the cow that yields everything, and the food that nourishes everything.
14. Him I praise for you, like Indra of good power, like Varuṇa full of hidden wisdom, like joyous Aryaman of rich nourishment, like Viṣṇu — I point him out.
15. Brilliant like the loud-roaring troop of the Maruts, unassailable — Pūṣan — so that he may gather hundreds, gather thousands, for the peoples; may he make hidden goods visible, may he make goods easy for us to find.
16. Run here to me, O Pūṣan; let me now speak into your ear, glowing one, of the ill-will and hostility of the rival.
17. Do not uproot the kākambīra tree, lord of the forest — for you utterly destroy curses. And may the sun on such a day never — even as the bird settles its neck to rest.
18. Let your friendship be like a wineskin free of wolves — of one running full without a crack, running full and well-filled.
19. For you are beyond mortals, equal to the gods also in splendor. Look upon us, Pūṣan, in our battles; help us now as before.
20. May the delightful guidance of delight, the lovely one, be ours — whether of a god or of a striving mortal, O Maruts eager for sacrifice.
21. He whose fame, even in a single day, the god Sūrya circling the sky does not surpass — the Maruts have taken on a brilliant, sacrifice-worthy name: Vṛtra-slaying might, the highest Vṛtra-slaying might.
22. Once, indeed, heaven was born; once earth was born; once the milk of Pṛśni was milked out — that does not happen again, another time.
Translator's note: Verse 17 (the kākambīra tree, and the closing image of the sun and the bird settling its neck) is genuinely obscure in the Sanskrit; the rendering above is conservative and literal rather than confident. Verse 6's repeated "ruddy bull" (aruṣo vṛṣā) at the verse's end mirrors a repetition in the Sanskrit itself, kept here rather than smoothed away.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.48 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 VI.48
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.
yajñā-yajñā vo agnaye girā-girā ca dakṣase |
pra-pra vayam amṛtaṁ jātavedasam priyam mitraṁ na śaṁsiṣam || 1 ||
ūrjo napātaṁ sa hināyam asmayur dāśema havyadātaye |
bhuvad vājeṣv avitā bhuvad vṛdha uta trātā tanūnām || 2 ||
vṛṣā hy agne ajaro mahān vibhāsy arciṣā |
ajasreṇa śociṣā śośucac chuce sudītibhiḥ su dīdihi || 3 ||
maho devān yajasi yakṣy ānuṣak tava kratvota daṁsanā |
arvācaḥ sīṁ kṛṇuhy agne 'vase rāsva vājota vaṁsva || 4 ||
yam āpo adrayo vanā garbham ṛtasya piprati |
sahasā yo mathito jāyate nṛbhiḥ pṛthivyā adhi sānavi || 5 ||
ā yaḥ paprau bhānunā rodasī ubhe dhūmena dhāvate divi |
tiras tamo dadṛśa ūrmyāsv ā śyāvāsv aruṣo vṛṣā śyāvā aruṣo vṛṣā || 6 ||
bṛhadbhir agne arcibhiḥ śukreṇa deva śociṣā |
bharadvāje samidhāno yaviṣṭhya revan naḥ śukra dīdihi dyumat pāvaka dīdihi || 7 ||
viśvāsāṁ gṛhapatir viśām asi tvam agne mānuṣīṇām |
śatam pūrbhir yaviṣṭha pāhy aṁhasaḥ sameddhāraṁ śataṁ himāḥ stotṛbhyo ye ca dadati || 8 ||
tvaṁ naś citra ūtyā vaso rādhāṁsi codaya |
asya rāyas tvam agne rathīr asi vidā gādhaṁ tuce tu naḥ || 9 ||
parṣi tokaṁ tanayam partṛbhiṣ ṭvam adabdhair aprayutvabhiḥ |
agne heḻāṁsi daivyā yuyodhi no 'devāni hvarāṁsi ca || 10 ||
ā sakhāyaḥ sabardughāṁ dhenum ajadhvam upa navyasā vacaḥ |
sṛjadhvam anapasphurām || 11 ||
yā śardhāya mārutāya svabhānave śravo 'mṛtyu dhukṣata |
yā mṛḻīke marutāṁ turāṇāṁ yā sumnair evayāvarī || 12 ||
bharadvājāyāva dhukṣata dvitā |
dhenuṁ ca viśvadohasam iṣaṁ ca viśvabhojasam || 13 ||
taṁ va indraṁ na sukratuṁ varuṇam iva māyinam |
aryamaṇaṁ na mandraṁ sṛprabhojasaṁ viṣṇuṁ na stuṣa ādiśe || 14 ||
tveṣaṁ śardho na mārutaṁ tuviṣvaṇy anarvāṇam pūṣaṇaṁ saṁ yathā śatā |
saṁ sahasrā kāriṣac carṣaṇibhya ām̐ āvir gūḻhā vasū karat suvedā no vasū karat || 15 ||
ā mā pūṣann upa drava śaṁsiṣaṁ nu te apikarṇa āghṛṇe |
aghā aryo arātayaḥ || 16 ||
mā kākambīram ud vṛho vanaspatim aśastīr vi hi nīnaśaḥ |
mota sūro aha evā cana grīvā ādadhate veḥ || 17 ||
dṛter iva te 'vṛkam astu sakhyam |
acchidrasya dadhanvataḥ supūrṇasya dadhanvataḥ || 18 ||
paro hi martyair asi samo devair uta śriyā |
abhi khyaḥ pūṣan pṛtanāsu nas tvam avā nūnaṁ yathā purā || 19 ||
vāmī vāmasya dhūtayaḥ praṇītir astu sūnṛtā |
devasya vā maruto martyasya vejānasya prayajyavaḥ || 20 ||
sadyaś cid yasya carkṛtiḥ pari dyāṁ devo naiti sūryaḥ |
tveṣaṁ śavo dadhire nāma yajñiyam maruto vṛtrahaṁ śavo jyeṣṭhaṁ vṛtrahaṁ śavaḥ || 21 ||
sakṛd dha dyaur ajāyata sakṛd bhūmir ajāyata |
pṛśnyā dugdhaṁ sakṛt payas tad anyo nānu jāyate || 22 ||
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).