Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda VII.38 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. Up has this god Savitṛ raised his golden arm, the one he has stretched forth. Now Bhaga is to be invoked by mortal men — he who, rich in wealth, freely bestows treasures.
2. Rise up, O Savitṛ, hear this, O golden-handed one, at the offering that upholds the sacred order. Stretching out your broad, wide arm, you impel forth sustenance for men.
3. Let the god Savitṛ be praised, he whom all the Vasus themselves extol. May he, worthy of homage, take delight in our hymns of praise; may he guard our patrons with every protection.
4. Whom the goddess Aditi extols, delighting in the god Savitṛ's stimulating impulse; whom sovereign Varuṇa extols, and Mitra and Aryaman, united in accord.
5. Those who, zealous together, attend to the gift of heaven, following also the gift of earth — may Ahi Budhnya likewise hear us; may Varūtrī protect us together with the Ekadhenus.
6. May the lord of the household grant us this, seeking the gift of the god Savitṛ. The mighty man calls upon Bhaga for help; the weak man too goes to Bhaga for a gift.
7. May the vigorous ones bring us well-being at our invocations, in divine worship, measured in their course, rightly praised — crushing the serpent, the wolf, the demons, may they drive sickness far away from us entirely.
8. In every contest, help us, O vigorous ones, in the winning of prizes, O inspired, immortal knowers of the sacred order. Drink of this sweet draught, be exhilarated, and, satisfied, go forth by the paths the gods travel.
Translator's note: "Ekadhenubhiḥ" in verse 5 (literally "with the one-cow ones") and the epithet "Varūtrī" are obscure — the phrase is rendered conservatively rather than resolved into a confident identification. "Ahi Budhnya" ("the Serpent of the Deep") is kept as a proper name, its standard sense in Vedic hymns.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.38 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.38
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.
ud u ṣya devaḥ savitā yayāma hiraṇyayīm amatiṁ yām aśiśret |
nūnam bhago havyo mānuṣebhir vi yo ratnā purūvasur dadhāti || 1 ||
ud u tiṣṭha savitaḥ śrudhy a1sya hiraṇyapāṇe prabhṛtāv ṛtasya |
vy u1rvīm pṛthvīm amatiṁ sṛjāna ā nṛbhyo martabhojanaṁ suvānaḥ || 2 ||
api ṣṭutaḥ savitā devo astu yam ā cid viśve vasavo gṛṇanti |
sa naḥ stomān namasya1ś cano dhād viśvebhiḥ pātu pāyubhir ni sūrīn || 3 ||
abhi yaṁ devy aditir gṛṇāti savaṁ devasya savitur juṣāṇā |
abhi samrājo varuṇo gṛṇanty abhi mitrāso aryamā sajoṣāḥ || 4 ||
abhi ye mitho vanuṣaḥ sapante rātiṁ divo rātiṣācaḥ pṛthivyāḥ |
ahir budhnya uta naḥ śṛṇotu varūtry ekadhenubhir ni pātu || 5 ||
anu tan no jāspatir maṁsīṣṭa ratnaṁ devasya savitur iyānaḥ |
bhagam ugro 'vase johavīti bhagam anugro adha yāti ratnam || 6 ||
śaṁ no bhavantu vājino haveṣu devatātā mitadravaḥ svarkāḥ |
jambhayanto 'hiṁ vṛkaṁ rakṣāṁsi sanemy asmad yuyavann amīvāḥ || 7 ||
vāje-vāje 'vata vājino no dhaneṣu viprā amṛtā ṛtajñāḥ |
asya madhvaḥ pibata mādayadhvaṁ tṛptā yāta pathibhir devayānaiḥ || 8 ||
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).