A Charm to Quiet the Watchdogs and Bring Sleep
Rigveda VII.55 is a sūkta (hymn) 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 hymn opens by addressing Vāstoṣpati, the guardian spirit of the house, then turns to Sārameya, the watchdog, urging him to stop baring his teeth and go to sleep. The second half is a charm that lulls the whole household — parents, kinsmen, anyone watching, even the women resting on their beds — into sleep.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. O Vāstoṣpati, destroyer of disease, entering into every form — be a good and kindly friend to us.
2. O bright Sārameya, you bare your fangs, tawny one; like flashing spears are the teeth at the corners of your mouth as you gnaw — now go to sleep.
3. Bark at the thief, Sārameya, or chase back the robber; but you bark even at the singers of Indra — why do you harass us? Now go to sleep.
4. You tear at the boar — let the boar tear at you in turn. You bark even at the singers of Indra — why do you harass us? Now go to sleep.
5. Let the mother sleep, let the father sleep, let the dog sleep, let the lord of the house sleep. Let all the kinsmen sleep. Let all these people round about sleep.
6. Whoever sits, whoever walks, whoever among us keeps watch — we shut their eyes fast, as fast as this house itself.
7. The thousand-horned bull who rose up out of the ocean — with that mighty one we lull the people to sleep.
8. The women who lie on the couch, who lie on the litter, who lie stretched out on the bed — all those sweet-smelling women, all of them, we lull to sleep.
Translator's note: verse 6's "akṣāṇi... yathedaṁ harmyaṁ tathā" is terse; rendered here as shutting eyes as firmly/fast as the house (itself closed up for the night), the most natural sense of the comparison.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.55 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.55
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.
amīvahā vāstoṣ pate viśvā rūpāṇy āviśan |
sakhā suśeva edhi naḥ || 1 ||
yad arjuna sārameya dataḥ piśaṅga yacchase |
vīva bhrājanta ṛṣṭaya upa srakveṣu bapsato ni ṣu svapa || 2 ||
stenaṁ rāya sārameya taskaraṁ vā punaḥsara |
stotṝn indrasya rāyasi kim asmān ducchunāyase ni ṣu svapa || 3 ||
tvaṁ sūkarasya dardṛhi tava dardartu sūkaraḥ |
stotṝn indrasya rāyasi kim asmān ducchunāyase ni ṣu svapa || 4 ||
sastu mātā sastu pitā sastu śvā sastu viśpatiḥ |
sasantu sarve jñātayaḥ sastv ayam abhito janaḥ || 5 ||
ya āste yaś ca carati yaś ca paśyati no janaḥ |
teṣāṁ saṁ hanmo akṣāṇi yathedaṁ harmyaṁ tathā || 6 ||
sahasraśṛṅgo vṛṣabho yaḥ samudrād udācarat |
tenā sahasyenā vayaṁ ni janān svāpayāmasi || 7 ||
proṣṭheśayā vahyeśayā nārīr yās talpaśīvarīḥ |
striyo yāḥ puṇyagandhās tāḥ sarvāḥ svāpayāmasi || 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).