Hymn to the Ṛbhus
Rigveda VII.48 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 Ṛbhukṣan, O Vāja, delight yourselves among us, O bounteous men, in the pressed soma. Let your purposes come toward us; let Vibhvan set in motion the chariot fit for heroes.
2. As Ṛbhu with the Ṛbhus, may we match your strength; as Vibhvan with the Vibhus, may our might equal yours. May Vāja protect us in the winning of the prize; with Indra as our ally may we overcome Vṛtra.
3. They indeed rule over many things, subduing all that belongs to the rival in his defeat. Indra, Vibhvan, Ṛbhukṣan, Vāja, the lord — may they, in contest with the foe, scatter his strength.
4. Now, O gods, make room for us; be with us, all of you together, for our protection. O Vasus, grant us abundance together. Protect us always with blessings.
Translator's note: Verse 3 is syntactically compressed in the Sanskrit — the referents of "they" and "the rival" are left implicit, as is common in Rigvedic praise-verses naming multiple deities in sequence (here Indra, Vibhvan, Ṛbhukṣan, and Vāja together). The rendering above follows the grammatical subjects as they stand rather than supplying additional context not present in the verse.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.48 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.48
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.
ṛbhukṣaṇo vājā mādayadhvam asme naro maghavānaḥ sutasya |
ā vo 'rvācaḥ kratavo na yātāṁ vibhvo rathaṁ naryaṁ vartayantu || 1 ||
ṛbhur ṛbhubhir abhi vaḥ syāma vibhvo vibhubhiḥ śavasā śavāṁsi |
vājo asmām̐ avatu vājasātāv indreṇa yujā taruṣema vṛtram || 2 ||
te cid dhi pūrvīr abhi santi śāsā viśvām̐ arya uparatāti vanvan |
indro vibhvām̐ ṛbhukṣā vājo aryaḥ śatror mithatyā kṛṇavan vi nṛmṇam || 3 ||
nū devāso varivaḥ kartanā no bhūta no viśve 'vase sajoṣāḥ |
sam asme iṣaṁ vasavo dadīran 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).