Hymn to Bhaga
Rigveda VII.41 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. At dawn we call on Agni, at dawn on Indra, at dawn on Mitra and Varuṇa, at dawn on the Aśvins. At dawn on Bhaga, Pūṣan, and Brahmaṇaspati — at dawn let us call on Soma and on Rudra.
2. Let us call on mighty Bhaga, victorious at dawn, the son of Aditi, who apportions fortune — of whom even the poor man, thinking of him, even the strong man, even the king, says: "Bhaga, let me have a share."
3. Bhaga, our leader! Bhaga, of true bounty! Bhaga, raise up this our prayer and grant it to us. Bhaga, increase us with cattle and horses. Bhaga, may we be rich in followers.
4. And now may we be fortunate, and at the day's advance, and in the middle of the days, and at the sun's rising, O bounteous one — may we stand in the good favor of the gods.
5. Let Bhaga himself be the fortunate one, O gods; through him may we too be fortunate. You, that Bhaga, everyone calls upon again and again — be, Bhaga, our leader here.
6. The Dawns bow together toward the rite, as toward Dadhikrā for the bright goal. Let strong horses bring Bhaga, the finder of wealth, here to us, as horses draw a chariot.
7. May the Dawns, rich in horses, rich in cattle, rich in men, gracious, shine forth for us always, yielding ghee, filled from every side. Protect us always with your blessings.
Translator's note: "prapitva" (v.4) is an obscure time-of-day term, rendered here conservatively as "the day's advance"; "dadhikrā" (v.6) is the divine horse Dadhikrāvan, kept untranslated as a proper name.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.41 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.41
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.
prātar agnim prātar indraṁ havāmahe prātar mitrāvaruṇā prātar aśvinā |
prātar bhagam pūṣaṇam brahmaṇas patim prātaḥ somam uta rudraṁ huvema || 1 ||
prātarjitam bhagam ugraṁ huvema vayam putram aditer yo vidhartā |
ādhraś cid yam manyamānas turaś cid rājā cid yam bhagam bhakṣīty āha || 2 ||
bhaga praṇetar bhaga satyarādho bhagemāṁ dhiyam ud avā dadan naḥ |
bhaga pra ṇo janaya gobhir aśvair bhaga pra nṛbhir nṛvantaḥ syāma || 3 ||
utedānīm bhagavantaḥ syāmota prapitva uta madhye ahnām |
utoditā maghavan sūryasya vayaṁ devānāṁ sumatau syāma || 4 ||
bhaga eva bhagavām̐ astu devās tena vayam bhagavantaḥ syāma |
taṁ tvā bhaga sarva ij johavīti sa no bhaga puraetā bhaveha || 5 ||
sam adhvarāyoṣaso namanta dadhikrāveva śucaye padāya |
arvācīnaṁ vasuvidam bhagaṁ no ratham ivāśvā vājina ā vahantu || 6 ||
aśvāvatīr gomatīr na uṣāso vīravatīḥ sadam ucchantu bhadrāḥ |
ghṛtaṁ duhānā viśvataḥ prapītā 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).