Hymn to Pūṣan
Rigveda VI.56 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. Whoever points to him, saying of Pūṣan "away from the gruel" — by that I am not pointed at, O god.
2. And indeed he, best of charioteers, the true lord, together with his yoked companion — Indra strikes down the obstructing foes.
3. And there, upon the dappled cow, the sun set down his golden wheel — best of charioteers.
4. Whatever we say to you today, O much-praised, wondrous, wise one — bring that thought of ours truly to success.
5. And lead to success this our cattle-seeking troop, for its winning. From afar, O Pūṣan, you are renowned.
6. We beg from you well-being, that keeps harm far off and brings goods near — today for our completeness, and tomorrow for our completeness.
Translator's note: Verse 1 alludes to karambha, a gruel or porridge offering associated with Pūṣan; the verse's exact logic (who is "pointed at" and why) is obscure and rendered here conservatively rather than resolved. In verse 3, "the dappled cow" (paruṣe gavi) likely names a mottled sky or cloud rather than a literal animal, but the image is kept as the Sanskrit gives it. In verse 6, āreaghām and upāvasum are compound epithets of svasti ("well-being") describing it as keeping evil distant and bringing goods near; the compounds are rendered by sense rather than word-for-word.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.56 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.56
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.
ya enam ādideśati karambhād iti pūṣaṇam |
na tena deva ādiśe || 1 ||
uta ghā sa rathītamaḥ sakhyā satpatir yujā |
indro vṛtrāṇi jighnate || 2 ||
utādaḥ paruṣe gavi sūraś cakraṁ hiraṇyayam |
ny airayad rathītamaḥ || 3 ||
yad adya tvā puruṣṭuta bravāma dasra mantumaḥ |
tat su no manma sādhaya || 4 ||
imaṁ ca no gaveṣaṇaṁ sātaye sīṣadho gaṇam |
ārāt pūṣann asi śrutaḥ || 5 ||
ā te svastim īmaha āreaghām upāvasum |
adyā ca sarvatātaye śvaś ca sarvatātaye || 6 ||
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).