Hymn to Vishnu
Rigveda VII.100 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 7 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. Now the mortal who desires to gain shares his offering, giving to Vishnu of the wide strides. He who worships with a whole mind seeks to win one so heroic, so great as this.
2. Give us, O Vishnu, swift-goer, your unfailing good will that belongs to all people, so that you may fill us with abundant well-being — with wealth rich in horses and shining gold.
3. This god strode three times across this earth, praised a hundredfold, by his greatness. Let Vishnu be mightier than the mighty — brilliant indeed is the name of this ancient one.
4. Vishnu strode across this earth, granting man a place to dwell. His people, his praisers, stand firm; the well-born god has made a wide dwelling-place.
5. Today I proclaim that name of yours, Śipiviṣṭa — I, knowing your ways, declare it as one of noble birth. I praise you, mighty one, mightier than the mighty, ruling in the farthest reach of this world.
6. What was there in you to mock, O Vishnu, when you declared, "I am Śipiviṣṭa"? Do not hide this form from us — the form in which you became different in the encounter.
7. I utter the sacrificial call to your mouth, O Vishnu — accept this offering of mine, O Śipiviṣṭa. May my well-made praises, my songs, strengthen you. Protect us always, all of you gods, with blessings.
Translator's note: "Śipiviṣṭa" (verses 5–7) is an epithet of Vishnu whose sense was already debated in ancient commentary — proposals include "clad in a ray of light" and "the hairless/bald one" — so it is left untranslated here rather than resolved by guess. Verse 6's "encounter" (samithe) can mean a meeting or a battle; the Sanskrit does not specify which. Verse 7's closing line shifts to a plural address to the gods, a common formulaic refrain in the Rigveda, and is rendered as such rather than smoothed into the singular.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.100 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 VII.100
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.
nū marto dayate saniṣyan yo viṣṇava urugāyāya dāśat |
pra yaḥ satrācā manasā yajāta etāvantaṁ naryam āvivāsāt || 1 ||
tvaṁ viṣṇo sumatiṁ viśvajanyām aprayutām evayāvo matiṁ dāḥ |
parco yathā naḥ suvitasya bhūrer aśvāvataḥ puruścandrasya rāyaḥ || 2 ||
trir devaḥ pṛthivīm eṣa etāṁ vi cakrame śatarcasam mahitvā |
pra viṣṇur astu tavasas tavīyān tveṣaṁ hy asya sthavirasya nāma || 3 ||
vi cakrame pṛthivīm eṣa etāṁ kṣetrāya viṣṇur manuṣe daśasyan |
dhruvāso asya kīrayo janāsa urukṣitiṁ sujanimā cakāra || 4 ||
pra tat te adya śipiviṣṭa nāmāryaḥ śaṁsāmi vayunāni vidvān |
taṁ tvā gṛṇāmi tavasam atavyān kṣayantam asya rajasaḥ parāke || 5 ||
kim it te viṣṇo paricakṣyam bhūt pra yad vavakṣe śipiviṣṭo asmi |
mā varpo asmad apa gūha etad yad anyarūpaḥ samithe babhūtha || 6 ||
vaṣaṭ te viṣṇav āsa ā kṛṇomi tan me juṣasva śipiviṣṭa havyam |
vardhantu tvā suṣṭutayo giro me yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 7 ||
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).