Hymn to Mitra and Varuṇa
Rigveda VII.64 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. The two who dwell in heaven, over the region of earth — may they pour out for you garments of ghee. May Mitra, well-born Aryaman, and Varuṇa the good ruler take pleasure in our offering.
2. Come here, you two kings, guardians of great cosmic order, lords of the rivers, rulers — come toward us. Send down to us, Mitra and Varuṇa, nourishment and rain from heaven, you two of swift gift-giving.
3. May Mitra, the god Varuṇa, and the noble one lead us on the most direct paths, so that the devoted man may then speak of us as he speaks of Sudās — may we rejoice in refreshment, guarded together by the gods.
4. He who with his mind has fashioned this seat for you, who raises up devotion and sustains it — anoint him with ghee, Mitra and Varuṇa; you two kings, satisfy his good dwelling-places.
5. This is the hymn of praise for you, Varuṇa and Mitra; like bright soma offered to Vāyu, it has been offered to you. Favor our devotions, rouse our abundant thoughts — may you always protect us with blessings.
Translator's note: verse 3's "ariḥ ... sudāsaḥ" is a compressed comparison invoking the patron-king Sudās as an example of one who prospers under Mitra-Varuṇa's guidance; the exact syntactic link is elliptical in the Sanskrit and rendered conservatively here. In verse 4, "gartam" (seat, chariot-box, or throne) and "puraṁdhīḥ" (abundant thought, or the goddess Puraṁdhi) admit more than one reading; the plain sense is given.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.64 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.64
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.
divi kṣayantā rajasaḥ pṛthivyām pra vāṁ ghṛtasya nirṇijo dadīran |
havyaṁ no mitro aryamā sujāto rājā sukṣatro varuṇo juṣanta || 1 ||
ā rājānā maha ṛtasya gopā sindhupatī kṣatriyā yātam arvāk |
iḻāṁ no mitrāvaruṇota vṛṣṭim ava diva invataṁ jīradānū || 2 ||
mitras tan no varuṇo devo aryaḥ pra sādhiṣṭhebhiḥ pathibhir nayantu |
bravad yathā na ād ariḥ sudāsa iṣā madema saha devagopāḥ || 3 ||
yo vāṁ gartam manasā takṣad etam ūrdhvāṁ dhītiṁ kṛṇavad dhārayac ca |
ukṣethām mitrāvaruṇā ghṛtena tā rājānā sukṣitīs tarpayethām || 4 ||
eṣa stomo varuṇa mitra tubhyaṁ somaḥ śukro na vāyave 'yāmi |
aviṣṭaṁ dhiyo jigṛtam puraṁdhīr yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 5 ||
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).