Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda VI.63 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. Where today are those two lovely, much-invoked ones? Has the reverent hymn of praise found them, like a messenger — the hymn that has turned you hither, O Nāsatyas, for you two are dearest to this thought.
2. Come readily, both of you, to this my call, being praised, so that you may drink the soma-juice. Go on your circuit around us, so that harm may not overtake us — neither from far nor from near.
3. The soma-juice has been prepared for you two in abundance; the sacred grass, most easy to approach, has been strewn. With outstretched hands, longing for you, the priest has praised you two; the pressing-stones, drawing near, have anointed the offering.
4. Agni has stood upright for you two at the rites; the ghee-laden oblation goes forth, glowing. The invoking priest, well-disposed and all-embracing, has yoked himself — he who calls the Nāsatyas to the invocation.
5. For splendor, the daughter of Sūrya has mounted your chariot, O you of many blessings, of a hundred forms of help. Be present here with your powers of wondrous skill, O skillful ones, O heroes, O dancers, at the birth of the gods worthy of worship.
6. With these beautiful, visible splendors you two have brought the flourishing of Sūryā, for her adornment. The birds have flown forth after your wondrous form; may the well-praised, devout hymn reach you two.
7. Let your vigorous horses, best of carriers, bring you two, O Nāsatyas, to the offering. Your chariot, swift as thought, has been sent forth for you, together with many refreshments and gifts of fuel.
8. Great indeed is your bounty, O you of many blessings. Make our nourishment swell unceasing, like a milch-cow. Your praise, O honeyed ones, and the good hymn, and the soma-juices — these have come following your gift.
9. And to me, in Ṛjra, of Puraya, a swift mare; in Sumīḻha and in Peruka, a hundred ripe cows. Śāṇḍa gave golden, well-favored horses, and ten cows accompanying the lofty steeds.
10. Purupanthā has bestowed hundreds and thousands of horses upon this hymn, O Nāsatyas. Now, O hero, he has given to Bharadvāja for his song — let the demons be slain, O you two of manifold powers.
11. May I be, together with the patrons, in the breadth of your favor.
Translator's note: Verse 9 is a dānastuti (gift-praise) naming patrons and places — Ṛjra, Puraya, Sumīḻha, Peruka, Śāṇḍa — whose identities are not independently recoverable from the verse itself; the syntax connecting the gifts to the giver(s) is compressed and the rendering here is conservative. Verse 11 is a single incomplete pāda in the source text as transmitted (it ends mid-formula compared to the hymn's other verses); it is translated as it stands, with nothing added to complete it.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.63 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.63
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.
kva1 tyā valgū puruhūtādya dūto na stomo 'vidan namasvān |
ā yo arvāṅ nāsatyā vavarta preṣṭhā hy asatho asya manman || 1 ||
aram me gantaṁ havanāyāsmai gṛṇānā yathā pibātho andhaḥ |
pari ha tyad vartir yātho riṣo na yat paro nāntaras tuturyāt || 2 ||
akāri vām andhaso varīmann astāri barhiḥ suprāyaṇatamam |
uttānahasto yuvayur vavandā vāṁ nakṣanto adraya āñjan || 3 ||
ūrdhvo vām agnir adhvareṣv asthāt pra rātir eti jūrṇinī ghṛtācī |
pra hotā gūrtamanā urāṇo 'yukta yo nāsatyā havīman || 4 ||
adhi śriye duhitā sūryasya rathaṁ tasthau purubhujā śatotim |
pra māyābhir māyinā bhūtam atra narā nṛtū janiman yajñiyānām || 5 ||
yuvaṁ śrībhir darśatābhir ābhiḥ śubhe puṣṭim ūhathuḥ sūryāyāḥ |
pra vāṁ vayo vapuṣe 'nu paptan nakṣad vāṇī suṣṭutā dhiṣṇyā vām || 6 ||
ā vāṁ vayo 'śvāso vahiṣṭhā abhi prayo nāsatyā vahantu |
pra vāṁ ratho manojavā asarjīṣaḥ pṛkṣa iṣidho anu pūrvīḥ || 7 ||
puru hi vām purubhujā deṣṇaṁ dhenuṁ na iṣam pinvatam asakrām |
stutaś ca vām mādhvī suṣṭutiś ca rasāś ca ye vām anu rātim agman || 8 ||
uta ma ṛjre purayasya raghvī sumīḻhe śatam peruke ca pakvā |
śāṇḍo dād dhiraṇinaḥ smaddiṣṭīn daśa vaśāso abhiṣāca ṛṣvān || 9 ||
saṁ vāṁ śatā nāsatyā sahasrāśvānām purupanthā gire dāt |
bharadvājāya vīra nū gire dād dhatā rakṣāṁsi purudaṁsasā syuḥ || 10 ||
ā vāṁ sumne variman sūribhiḥ ṣyām || 11 ||
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).