Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda VI.50 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.
1. I call on you with homage — the goddess Aditi, for mercy; Varuṇa, Mitra, Agni; the bountiful, gracious Aryaman; the protecting gods Savitar and Bhaga.
2. O Sūrya, seek out for us the bright gods, the lords of skill, in freedom from wrongdoing — O greatly mighty one — the twice-born gods who truly serve the cosmic order, full of light, worthy of worship, with Agni as their tongue.
3. And you, Heaven and Earth — wide dominion, vast, gracious pair, a shelter — make room for us, greatness and freedom, O flawless bowls, for our dwelling.
4. May the sons of Rudra bend toward us today, invoked, the good ones, unassailable — for we have called on the Maruts, the gods, whether we are set in small trouble or great.
5. In them the goddess Rodasī has taken her place, and Pūṣan follows, worshiping alongside. Having heard our call, O Maruts, when you set out, the multitudes tremble on the singled-out path.
6. Sing out to that hero who delights in songs of praise, to Indra, O singer, with a new-made prayer. May he indeed hear the call and, drawing near as we praise him, extolled for his greatness, grant us strength.
7. O Waters, friendly to human beings, grant unblemished help, well-being and safety, to child and offspring — for you are healers, most motherly, mothers of all that stands and all that moves.
8. May the god Savitar come to us, protecting, golden-handed, worthy of worship — he who, bountiful, like the face of dawn, uncovers desirable things for the one who makes offering.
9. And you, son of strength, turn the gods toward us today at this rite. May I always stand within your giving; may I, Agni, be rich in good sons through your favor.
10. And may those two, the Nāsatyas, come to my call, you two inspired ones, through my prayers. As you freed Atri from the great darkness, so free the one hard-pressed, O men, from distress, in the moment of need.
11. Be for us the givers of wealth bright and full of strength, rich in men, abundant in food — you gods, gracious, heavenly and earthly, earth-born and water-born — and show us mercy, gods.
12. May Rudra and Sarasvatī, of one accord, be gracious to us, and the bounteous ones, Viṣṇu, Vāyu; may Ṛbhukṣan, divine Vāja, the Ordainer; may Parjanya and Vāta swell our nourishment.
13. And may that god Savitar, and Bhaga, protect us; may the Son of the Waters, the filler, protect our stream. Tvaṣṭar, together with the wives of the gods, of one accord; Heaven with the gods, Earth with the seas.
14. And may the Serpent of the Deep hear us, and the One-Footed Unborn, Earth, the Ocean. May all the gods who strengthen the cosmic order, once called, and the praised hymns spoken by the sages, protect us.
15. So the descendants of Bharadvāja praise, with my thoughts, with songs — the divine wives, the invoked, the good, unassailable ones. Be, all of you, praised, worthy of worship.
Translator's note: several names in verses 13–14 are cosmological figures whose exact referents are debated by scholars — Apāṁ Napāt ("Son of the Waters"), Ahi Budhnya ("Serpent of the Deep"), and Aja Ekapād ("the One-Footed Unborn/Goat") — obscure epithets belonging to old cosmogonic imagery already opaque within the Rigveda itself; they are kept here as proper names rather than interpreted further. "Rodasī" in verse 5 is the Maruts' consort-figure, not the dual "Heaven-and-Earth" (rodasī) used elsewhere in this hymn — the two are homonyms in Sanskrit and are rendered distinctly here by context.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.50 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.50
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.
huve vo devīm aditiṁ namobhir mṛḻīkāya varuṇam mitram agnim |
abhikṣadām aryamaṇaṁ suśevaṁ trātṝn devān savitāram bhagaṁ ca || 1 ||
sujyotiṣaḥ sūrya dakṣapitṝn anāgāstve sumaho vīhi devān |
dvijanmāno ya ṛtasāpaḥ satyāḥ svarvanto yajatā agnijihvāḥ || 2 ||
uta dyāvāpṛthivī kṣatram uru bṛhad rodasī śaraṇaṁ suṣumne |
mahas karatho varivo yathā no 'sme kṣayāya dhiṣaṇe anehaḥ || 3 ||
ā no rudrasya sūnavo namantām adyā hūtāso vasavo 'dhṛṣṭāḥ |
yad īm arbhe mahati vā hitāso bādhe maruto ahvāma devān || 4 ||
mimyakṣa yeṣu rodasī nu devī siṣakti pūṣā abhyardhayajvā |
śrutvā havam maruto yad dha yātha bhūmā rejante adhvani pravikte || 5 ||
abhi tyaṁ vīraṁ girvaṇasam arcendram brahmaṇā jaritar navena |
śravad id dhavam upa ca stavāno rāsad vājām̐ upa maho gṛṇānaḥ || 6 ||
omānam āpo mānuṣīr amṛktaṁ dhāta tokāya tanayāya śaṁ yoḥ |
yūyaṁ hi ṣṭhā bhiṣajo mātṛtamā viśvasya sthātur jagato janitrīḥ || 7 ||
ā no devaḥ savitā trāyamāṇo hiraṇyapāṇir yajato jagamyāt |
yo datravām̐ uṣaso na pratīkaṁ vyūrṇute dāśuṣe vāryāṇi || 8 ||
uta tvaṁ sūno sahaso no adyā devām̐ asminn adhvare vavṛtyāḥ |
syām ahaṁ te sadam id rātau tava syām agne 'vasā suvīraḥ || 9 ||
uta tyā me havam ā jagmyātaṁ nāsatyā dhībhir yuvam aṅga viprā |
atriṁ na mahas tamaso 'mumuktaṁ tūrvataṁ narā duritād abhīke || 10 ||
te no rāyo dyumato vājavato dātāro bhūta nṛvataḥ purukṣoḥ |
daśasyanto divyāḥ pārthivāso gojātā apyā mṛḻatā ca devāḥ || 11 ||
te no rudraḥ sarasvatī sajoṣā mīḻhuṣmanto viṣṇur mṛḻantu vāyuḥ |
ṛbhukṣā vājo daivyo vidhātā parjanyāvātā pipyatām iṣaṁ naḥ || 12 ||
uta sya devaḥ savitā bhago no 'pāṁ napād avatu dānu papriḥ |
tvaṣṭā devebhir janibhiḥ sajoṣā dyaur devebhiḥ pṛthivī samudraiḥ || 13 ||
uta no 'hir budhnyaḥ śṛṇotv aja ekapāt pṛthivī samudraḥ |
viśve devā ṛtāvṛdho huvānāḥ stutā mantrāḥ kaviśastā avantu || 14 ||
evā napāto mama tasya dhībhir bharadvājā abhy arcanty arkaiḥ |
gnā hutāso vasavo 'dhṛṣṭā viśve stutāso bhūtā yajatrāḥ || 15 ||
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).