Hymn to the Waters
Rigveda VII.47 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. O Waters, that first wave of yours which the god-seeking ones made into Indra's drink, the wave of refreshment — that wave of yours, pure and flawless, sprinkled with ghee and full of sweetness, may we win today.
2. That sweetest wave of yours, O Waters — may the Child of the Waters, the swift driver, guard it. The wave in which Indra delights together with the Vasus — that of yours may we, god-seeking, obtain today.
3. Purified through a hundred filters, rejoicing by their own nature, the goddesses go to the gods' own domain. They do not break Indra's ordinances. Offer to the Rivers an oblation rich in ghee.
4. You whom the Sun has stretched out with his rays, for whom Indra carved a path for the wave — you Rivers, grant us freedom and room; protect us always with your blessings.
Translator's note: verse 1's "iḷaḥ" (rendered "of refreshment") names Iḷā, the Vedic figure of sacrificial nourishment; verse 2's "Child of the Waters" (Apāṁ Napāt) and "swift driver" (āśuhemā) are kept as a descriptive epithet rather than expanded into a separate deity name.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.47 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.47
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.
āpo yaṁ vaḥ prathamaṁ devayanta indrapānam ūrmim akṛṇvateḻaḥ |
taṁ vo vayaṁ śucim aripram adya ghṛtapruṣam madhumantaṁ vanema || 1 ||
tam ūrmim āpo madhumattamaṁ vo 'pāṁ napād avatv āśuhemā |
yasminn indro vasubhir mādayāte tam aśyāma devayanto vo adya || 2 ||
śatapavitrāḥ svadhayā madantīr devīr devānām api yanti pāthaḥ |
tā indrasya na minanti vratāni sindhubhyo havyaṁ ghṛtavaj juhota || 3 ||
yāḥ sūryo raśmibhir ātatāna yābhya indro aradad gātum ūrmim |
te sindhavo varivo dhātanā no yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 4 ||
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).