Hymn to Pūṣan
Rigveda VI.53 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. We have yoked you, O lord of the path, like a chariot, for the winning of strength, for insight, O Pūṣan.
2. Lead to us manly wealth, a hero who gives liberal gifts, an excellent master of the house.
3. Even the one unwilling to give, O radiant one, urge toward giving, O Pūṣan; soften even the mind of the miser.
4. Clear the paths for the winning of strength; strike down the scorners. Let our prayers succeed, O mighty one.
5. Pierce through the hearts of the misers with your goad, O seer; then subject them to us.
6. Goad, O Pūṣan, with your awl; seek out what is dear in the miser's heart; then subject it to us.
7. Scratch open and scatter the hearts of the misers, O seer; then subject them to us.
8. With the goad that spurs on the sacred word, which you carry, O radiant Pūṣan — with it scratch open and scatter the heart of each one of them.
9. Your whip, tipped with cow-hide, O radiant one, that wins us livestock — we beg the favor of that whip of yours.
10. And make our prayer, which wins cattle, wins horses, and wins strength, abundant in men, for our enjoyment.
Translator's note: "paṇi" (verses 3, 5–8) names a class of niggardly traders/withholders in the Rigveda, here rendered "miser(s)"; "āghṛṇe" is a vocative meaning roughly "radiant/glowing one," an epithet of Pūṣan, kept close to the literal sense rather than expanded. "Goopaśā" in verse 9 (a whip fitted or tipped with cow-hide/cow-leather) is rendered "tipped with cow-hide" conservatively.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.53 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.53
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.
vayam u tvā pathas pate rathaṁ na vājasātaye |
dhiye pūṣann ayujmahi || 1 ||
abhi no naryaṁ vasu vīram prayatadakṣiṇam |
vāmaṁ gṛhapatiṁ naya || 2 ||
aditsantaṁ cid āghṛṇe pūṣan dānāya codaya |
paṇeś cid vi mradā manaḥ || 3 ||
vi patho vājasātaye cinuhi vi mṛdho jahi |
sādhantām ugra no dhiyaḥ || 4 ||
pari tṛndhi paṇīnām ārayā hṛdayā kave |
athem asmabhyaṁ randhaya || 5 ||
vi pūṣann ārayā tuda paṇer iccha hṛdi priyam |
athem asmabhyaṁ randhaya || 6 ||
ā rikha kikirā kṛṇu paṇīnāṁ hṛdayā kave |
athem asmabhyaṁ randhaya || 7 ||
yām pūṣan brahmacodanīm ārām bibharṣy āghṛṇe |
tayā samasya hṛdayam ā rikha kikirā kṛṇu || 8 ||
yā te aṣṭrā goopaśāghṛṇe paśusādhanī |
tasyās te sumnam īmahe || 9 ||
uta no goṣaṇiṁ dhiyam aśvasāṁ vājasām uta |
nṛvat kṛṇuhi vītaye || 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).