Hymn to the All-Gods
Rigveda VI.52 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 do not approve of that — not by heaven, not by earth, not by sacrifice, not by these ritual works. Let the mighty mountains press him down; let the one who performs a rival sacrifice be brought low.
2. Whoever, O Maruts, thinks himself above us, or would scorn the sacred formula as it is being performed — let burning miseries be his; let heaven itself blaze against him, the hater of the sacred formula.
3. Why then, O Soma, do they call you guardian of the sacred formula? Why then do they call you our protector from curses? Why then do you watch us being reviled? Hurl your burning weapon at the hater of the sacred formula.
4. May the dawns as they are born help me; may the swelling rivers help me; may the steadfast mountains help me; may the fathers help me in the calling of the gods.
5. May we be of good mind at all times; may we indeed see the sun rising. So may the lord of goods, bringing the gods with him, most ready to come with help, grant it.
6. May Indra be nearest, most ready to come with help; Sarasvatī, swelling with her streams; Parjanya, delightful with his plants; Agni, well-praised, easily called, like a father.
7. O All-Gods, come here, hear this call of mine; sit down here on this sacred grass.
8. Whoever adorns you, O gods, with an offering dripping with ghee — go, all of you, to him.
9. Let the sons of the immortal hear our songs; let them be gracious to us.
10. May the All-Gods, who strengthen the sacred order, who hear the call at the right seasons, delight in the paired milk-offering.
11. Indra together with the troop of Maruts, with Tvaṣṭṛ, Mitra, Aryaman — may they delight in this hymn of praise, in these offerings of ours.
12. O Agni, Hotṛ, offer this our rite in due order, wisely, summoning the divine folk.
13. O All-Gods, hear this call of mine — you who are in the mid-space, you who are there in heaven, you whose tongue is Agni, and you who are worthy of worship — sit down on this sacred grass and be glad.
14. May all the gods worthy of sacrifice hear my call, both halves of the world, and the son of the waters hear my thought. May I never speak of you words that deserve scorn; may we, closest to you, rejoice in your favor.
15. Whatever great gods of serpent-power were born from earth or from heaven, in the shared dwelling of the waters — may those gods, by night and by dawn, grant us a full lifetime for our strength.
16. O Agni and Parjanya, easily called, favor my thought, our good praise, in this invocation. Let the one give birth to refreshment, the other to the seed; grant us food rich in offspring.
17. With the sacred grass spread, with the fire kindled, I seek to win you with a well-made hymn and great homage. O All-Gods worthy of worship, be glad today at this our gathering, in this offering.
Translator's note: "ahimāyā" (verse 15) — literally "possessing the māyā [magic power/form-shifting cunning] of the serpent" — is rendered conservatively as "serpent-power"; the term is a fixed epithet of uncertain full sense applied to certain great gods. In verse 11, "stotram" and "imā havyā" (the hymn and these offerings) are both taken as objects of the same verb of enjoyment, since no second verb is given.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.52 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.52
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.
na tad divā na pṛthivyānu manye na yajñena nota śamībhir ābhiḥ |
ubjantu taṁ subhva1ḥ parvatāso ni hīyatām atiyājasya yaṣṭā || 1 ||
ati vā yo maruto manyate no brahma vā yaḥ kriyamāṇaṁ ninitsāt |
tapūṁṣi tasmai vṛjināni santu brahmadviṣam abhi taṁ śocatu dyauḥ || 2 ||
kim aṅga tvā brahmaṇaḥ soma gopāṁ kim aṅga tvāhur abhiśastipāṁ naḥ |
kim aṅga naḥ paśyasi nidyamānān brahmadviṣe tapuṣiṁ hetim asya || 3 ||
avantu mām uṣaso jāyamānā avantu mā sindhavaḥ pinvamānāḥ |
avantu mā parvatāso dhruvāso 'vantu mā pitaro devahūtau || 4 ||
viśvadānīṁ sumanasaḥ syāma paśyema nu sūryam uccarantam |
tathā karad vasupatir vasūnāṁ devām̐ ohāno 'vasāgamiṣṭhaḥ || 5 ||
indro nediṣṭham avasāgamiṣṭhaḥ sarasvatī sindhubhiḥ pinvamānā |
parjanyo na oṣadhībhir mayobhur agniḥ suśaṁsaḥ suhavaḥ piteva || 6 ||
viśve devāsa ā gata śṛṇutā ma imaṁ havam |
edam barhir ni ṣīdata || 7 ||
yo vo devā ghṛtasnunā havyena pratibhūṣati |
taṁ viśva upa gacchatha || 8 ||
upa naḥ sūnavo giraḥ śṛṇvantv amṛtasya ye |
sumṛḻīkā bhavantu naḥ || 9 ||
viśve devā ṛtāvṛdha ṛtubhir havanaśrutaḥ |
juṣantāṁ yujyam payaḥ || 10 ||
stotram indro marudgaṇas tvaṣṭṛmān mitro aryamā |
imā havyā juṣanta naḥ || 11 ||
imaṁ no agne adhvaraṁ hotar vayunaśo yaja |
cikitvān daivyaṁ janam || 12 ||
viśve devāḥ śṛṇutemaṁ havam me ye antarikṣe ya upa dyavi ṣṭha |
ye agnijihvā uta vā yajatrā āsadyāsmin barhiṣi mādayadhvam || 13 ||
viśve devā mama śṛṇvantu yajñiyā ubhe rodasī apāṁ napāc ca manma |
mā vo vacāṁsi paricakṣyāṇi vocaṁ sumneṣv id vo antamā madema || 14 ||
ye ke ca jmā mahino ahimāyā divo jajñire apāṁ sadhasthe |
te asmabhyam iṣaye viśvam āyuḥ kṣapa usrā varivasyantu devāḥ || 15 ||
agnīparjanyāv avataṁ dhiyam me 'smin have suhavā suṣṭutiṁ naḥ |
iḻām anyo janayad garbham anyaḥ prajāvatīr iṣa ā dhattam asme || 16 ||
stīrṇe barhiṣi samidhāne agnau sūktena mahā namasā vivāse |
asmin no adya vidathe yajatrā viśve devā haviṣi mādayadhvam || 17 ||
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).