Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda VII.71 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. Night withdraws from her sister Dawn; the dark one clears the path for the ruddy one. You two, rich in horses, rich in cattle, we would call upon — day and night, keep the weapon away from us.
2. Come to the worshipping mortal, O Aśvins, bringing your chariot laden with good things. Keep sickness and joylessness away from us, day and night; protect us, you honey-sweet ones.
3. May those seeking your favor, the bounteous ones, roll your chariot hither at the nearest daybreak. Drive here, O Aśvins, the wealth-laden chariot with its leather reins, drawn by horses yoked in due order.
4. Your chariot, O lords of men — the three-seated bearer, wealth-laden, moving at dawn — come to us with it, O Nāsatyas, when the all-nourishing one goes out to meet you.
5. You two freed Cyavāna from old age; you brought a swift horse down to Pedu. You freed Atri from distress and darkness; you set Jahuṣa within a place of ease.
6. This is the thought, this the song, O Aśvins; accept, you mighty ones, this well-wrought praise. These prayers, longing for you, have come to you. Protect us always with your blessings.
Translator's note: a few words resist a confident rendering — "syūmagabhastim" (verse 3) is read here as "with leather reins," "viśvapsnyaḥ" (verse 4) as "the all-nourishing one," and "śithire" (verse 5) as "a place of ease"; all three admit other readings and are translated conservatively.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.71 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.71
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.
apa svasur uṣaso nag jihīte riṇakti kṛṣṇīr aruṣāya panthām |
aśvāmaghā gomaghā vāṁ huvema divā naktaṁ śarum asmad yuyotam || 1 ||
upāyātaṁ dāśuṣe martyāya rathena vāmam aśvinā vahantā |
yuyutam asmad anirām amīvāṁ divā naktam mādhvī trāsīthāṁ naḥ || 2 ||
ā vāṁ ratham avamasyāṁ vyuṣṭau sumnāyavo vṛṣaṇo vartayantu |
syūmagabhastim ṛtayugbhir aśvair āśvinā vasumantaṁ vahethām || 3 ||
yo vāṁ ratho nṛpatī asti voḻhā trivandhuro vasumām̐ usrayāmā |
ā na enā nāsatyopa yātam abhi yad vāṁ viśvapsnyo jigāti || 4 ||
yuvaṁ cyavānaṁ jaraso 'mumuktaṁ ni pedava ūhathur āśum aśvam |
nir aṁhasas tamasaḥ spartam atriṁ ni jāhuṣaṁ śithire dhātam antaḥ || 5 ||
iyam manīṣā iyam aśvinā gīr imāṁ suvṛktiṁ vṛṣaṇā juṣethām |
imā brahmāṇi yuvayūny agman yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 6 ||
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).