Hymn to the Maruts, with a Closing Verse to Rudra Tryambaka

Rigveda VII.59 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. Whom you gods protect, again and again, and whom you guide — to him, O Agni, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Maruts, grant shelter.

2. By your help, O gods, day after day, the beloved sacrificer crosses over his haters. He extends his dwelling and spreads far his great store of food, he who gives offerings to satisfy your wish.

3. Not even the least of you does Vasiṣṭha disregard. Today, O Maruts, at our pressed soma, all of you together, wanting it, drink.

4. Your help does not fail in battles, for the man you have favored, O heroes. May your newest goodwill turn toward him — come quickly, wanting to drink.

5. Come well, you of eager bounty, to drink the soma draughts. These offerings are for you, O Maruts — I have indeed given them; do not go elsewhere.

6. Sit down on our sacred grass, and be one who grants us desirable goods to give. Unfailing Maruts, rejoice here in the soma-sweetness, with the offering-cry.

7. Adorning their own bodies again and again, they have flown here like dark-backed geese. The whole troop has settled around me, like joyful men rejoicing at the soma-pressing.

8. Whoever, O Maruts, ill-willed, means to harm us against our purposes, O good ones — may he be caught fast in the snares of deceit; strike him down with your hottest weapon.

9. This burning oblation, O Maruts — enjoy it, you whose help lays waste the foe.

10. O household-keepers, come, Maruts, do not stay away. Your help, O generous ones.

11. Here and here again I choose your sacrifice, self-strong ones, seers, sun-skinned ones, O Maruts.

12. We worship Tryambaka, the three-eyed one, fragrant, increaser of prosperity. Like a cucumber freed from its stem, may I be released from death, not cut off from life.

Translator's note: verse 12 is the source verse of what later tradition calls the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra; "sāṁtapanā" (v.9) and "gṛhamedhāsaḥ" (v.10) are terse epithets rendered conservatively as "burning" and "household-keepers." "Māmṛtāt" in v.12 is read as "mā amṛtāt," "not from the undying/immortal (state)," here rendered "not cut off from life."

Colophon

Rigveda VII.59 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.59

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.

yaṁ trāyadhva idam-idaṁ devāso yaṁ ca nayatha |
tasmā agne varuṇa mitrāryaman marutaḥ śarma yacchata || 1 ||

yuṣmākaṁ devā avasāhani priya ījānas tarati dviṣaḥ |
pra sa kṣayaṁ tirate vi mahīr iṣo yo vo varāya dāśati || 2 ||

nahi vaś caramaṁ cana vasiṣṭhaḥ parimaṁsate |
asmākam adya marutaḥ sute sacā viśve pibata kāminaḥ || 3 ||

nahi va ūtiḥ pṛtanāsu mardhati yasmā arādhvaṁ naraḥ |
abhi va āvart sumatir navīyasī tūyaṁ yāta pipīṣavaḥ || 4 ||

o ṣu ghṛṣvirādhaso yātanāndhāṁsi pītaye |
imā vo havyā maruto rare hi kam mo ṣv a1nyatra gantana || 5 ||

ā ca no barhiḥ sadatāvitā ca naḥ spārhāṇi dātave vasu |
asredhanto marutaḥ somye madhau svāheha mādayādhvai || 6 ||

sasvaś cid dhi tanva1ḥ śumbhamānā ā haṁsāso nīlapṛṣṭhā apaptan |
viśvaṁ śardho abhito mā ni ṣeda naro na raṇvāḥ savane madantaḥ || 7 ||

yo no maruto abhi durhṛṇāyus tiraś cittāni vasavo jighāṁsati |
druhaḥ pāśān prati sa mucīṣṭa tapiṣṭhena hanmanā hantanā tam || 8 ||

sāṁtapanā idaṁ havir marutas taj jujuṣṭana |
yuṣmākotī riśādasaḥ || 9 ||

gṛhamedhāsa ā gata maruto māpa bhūtana |
yuṣmākotī sudānavaḥ || 10 ||

iheha vaḥ svatavasaḥ kavayaḥ sūryatvacaḥ |
yajñam maruta ā vṛṇe || 11 ||

tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhim puṣṭivardhanam |
urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt || 12 ||

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).