Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda VII.56 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. Who are these adorned men, kinsmen of one nest, the young warriors of Rudra, with their fine horses?
2. No one indeed knows their births; they alone know their own origin.
3. They adorn one another with their own ornaments; sounding like the wind, they raced like falcons.
4. The wise one has perceived these secret things: that great Pṛśni bore them at her udder.
5. May that clan be rich in good heroes through the Maruts — ever prevailing, thriving in strength.
6. Swiftest on their course, most splendid in beauty, arrayed in glory, fierce in their power.
7. Fierce is your strength, firm your powers; then with the Maruts the troop is mighty.
8. Bright is your fury, wrathful your minds, roaring like a frenzied seer — the fury of the bold host.
9. Keep your dart entirely away from us; let not your ill will reach us here.
10. I call your dear names, names of the swift ones, when, O Maruts, longing eagerly, you are satisfied.
11. Well-armed, swift with their weapons, wearing fine gold ornaments, and adorning their own bodies.
12. Pure are your oblations, O Maruts, oblations of the pure; I send forth the pure sacrifice to the pure. Through order they came to truth, servants of order — pure-born, pure, purifying.
13. On your shoulders, O Maruts, are rings; on your chests golden ornaments rest; shining like lightning bolts amid the rains, wielding your weapons each after its own nature.
14. Your deep-seated might rises forth; put forward your names, most worshipful ones — make them grow greater. Accept, O Maruts, this thousandfold household portion belonging to the home sacrifice.
15. If you have truly heeded, O Maruts, the call of the praised, inspired, vigorous singer, then quickly grant him wealth in good sons — even him whom another, an ungenerous man, has wronged.
16. Like swift steeds, O Maruts, who move well, like wonders to behold, the young men shine — bright like children standing in the hall, like playful calves swollen with milk.
17. Being gracious, may the Maruts show us mercy, favoring the two well-set worlds. Far away be your cattle-slaying, man-slaying weapon; with your favors, O bountiful ones, incline toward us.
18. Seated, the priest calls out to you again and again, invoking, O Maruts, your shared bounty. Whoever is herdsman to a bull of such might, he, without deceit, calls to you with hymns.
19. These restrain the overpowering foe, O Maruts; these bow down might before might. These guard against the curse of the hostile one; heavy hatred they lay upon the ungenerous man.
20. These help forward even the weak one, O Maruts, even the unsteady one, as bountiful ones delight to do. Drive away the darkness, O mighty bulls; grant us the whole line of children and offspring.
21. Let us not be excluded from your gift, O Maruts; let us not fall behind, O charioted ones, in the distribution. Grant us a share in the desirable bounty — that excellent wealth which is yours, O mighty bulls.
22. When heroic men clash together in fury among the vast fields, among the clans — then, O Maruts, sons of Rudra, be our protectors in battle against the foe.
23. Many are the ancestral hymns, O Maruts, which have been sung to you even from ancient times. With the Maruts the mighty one prevails in battles; with the Maruts alone the courser wins the prize.
24. May there be among us, O Maruts, a vigorous hero, a mighty lord and sustainer of men, by whom we may cross the waters to a good dwelling — then may we abide in our own home, turned toward you.
25. May Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, Agni, the waters, the plants, the trees favor this wish of ours. May we find shelter in the lap of the Maruts. Protect us always, all of you, with your blessings.
Translator's note: a few terms admit more than one reading. "sanīḻā" (v. 1) is rendered "kinsmen of one nest," marking the Maruts as a single brood. "aryaḥ" (v. 22) can mean either "foe" or "lord"; context favors "foe" here. "asuraḥ" (v. 24) is used in its older, positive Rigvedic sense of "mighty lord," not the later demonic sense. "yahvīṣv oṣadhīṣu" (v. 22) literally reads "among the vast/young plants," taken here as a figure for open battlefields.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.56 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.56
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.
ka īṁ vyaktā naraḥ sanīḻā rudrasya maryā adha svaśvāḥ || 1 ||
nakir hy eṣāṁ janūṁṣi veda te aṅga vidre mitho janitram || 2 ||
abhi svapūbhir mitho vapanta vātasvanasaḥ śyenā aspṛdhran || 3 ||
etāni dhīro niṇyā ciketa pṛśnir yad ūdho mahī jabhāra || 4 ||
sā viṭ suvīrā marudbhir astu sanāt sahantī puṣyantī nṛmṇam || 5 ||
yāmaṁ yeṣṭhāḥ śubhā śobhiṣṭhāḥ śriyā sammiślā ojobhir ugrāḥ || 6 ||
ugraṁ va ojaḥ sthirā śavāṁsy adhā marudbhir gaṇas tuviṣmān || 7 ||
śubhro vaḥ śuṣmaḥ krudhmī manāṁsi dhunir munir iva śardhasya dhṛṣṇoḥ || 8 ||
sanemy asmad yuyota didyum mā vo durmatir iha praṇaṅ naḥ || 9 ||
priyā vo nāma huve turāṇām ā yat tṛpan maruto vāvaśānāḥ || 10 ||
svāyudhāsa iṣmiṇaḥ suniṣkā uta svayaṁ tanva1ḥ śumbhamānāḥ || 11 ||
śucī vo havyā marutaḥ śucīnāṁ śuciṁ hinomy adhvaraṁ śucibhyaḥ |
ṛtena satyam ṛtasāpa āyañ chucijanmānaḥ śucayaḥ pāvakāḥ || 12 ||
aṁseṣv ā marutaḥ khādayo vo vakṣaḥsu rukmā upaśiśriyāṇāḥ |
vi vidyuto na vṛṣṭibhī rucānā anu svadhām āyudhair yacchamānāḥ || 13 ||
pra budhnyā va īrate mahāṁsi pra nāmāni prayajyavas tiradhvam |
sahasriyaṁ damyam bhāgam etaṁ gṛhamedhīyam maruto juṣadhvam || 14 ||
yadi stutasya maruto adhīthetthā viprasya vājino havīman |
makṣū rāyaḥ suvīryasya dāta nū cid yam anya ādabhad arāvā || 15 ||
atyāso na ye marutaḥ svañco yakṣadṛśo na śubhayanta maryāḥ |
te harmyeṣṭhāḥ śiśavo na śubhrā vatsāso na prakrīḻinaḥ payodhāḥ || 16 ||
daśasyanto no maruto mṛḻantu varivasyanto rodasī sumeke |
āre gohā nṛhā vadho vo astu sumnebhir asme vasavo namadhvam || 17 ||
ā vo hotā johavīti sattaḥ satrācīṁ rātim maruto gṛṇānaḥ |
ya īvato vṛṣaṇo asti gopāḥ so advayāvī havate va ukthaiḥ || 18 ||
ime turam maruto rāmayantīme sahaḥ sahasa ā namanti |
ime śaṁsaṁ vanuṣyato ni pānti guru dveṣo araruṣe dadhanti || 19 ||
ime radhraṁ cin maruto junanti bhṛmiṁ cid yathā vasavo juṣanta |
apa bādhadhvaṁ vṛṣaṇas tamāṁsi dhatta viśvaṁ tanayaṁ tokam asme || 20 ||
mā vo dātrān maruto nir arāma mā paścād daghma rathyo vibhāge |
ā naḥ spārhe bhajatanā vasavye3 yad īṁ sujātaṁ vṛṣaṇo vo asti || 21 ||
saṁ yad dhananta manyubhir janāsaḥ śūrā yahvīṣv oṣadhīṣu vikṣu |
adha smā no maruto rudriyāsas trātāro bhūta pṛtanāsv aryaḥ || 22 ||
bhūri cakra marutaḥ pitryāṇy ukthāni yā vaḥ śasyante purā cit |
marudbhir ugraḥ pṛtanāsu sāḻhā marudbhir it sanitā vājam arvā || 23 ||
asme vīro marutaḥ śuṣmy astu janānāṁ yo asuro vidhartā |
apo yena sukṣitaye taremādha svam oko abhi vaḥ syāma || 24 ||
tan na indro varuṇo mitro agnir āpa oṣadhīr vanino juṣanta |
śarman syāma marutām upasthe yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 25 ||
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).