Hymn to Indra and Varuṇa
Rigveda VII.82 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. O Indra and Varuṇa, grant great shelter to us, to our clan, for the sacrifice. May we conquer in battle the malicious ones who set upon the one who sacrifices long and steadily.
2. One of you is called samrāṭ, the universal sovereign; the other is called svarāṭ, the self-ruler — you two, Indra and Varuṇa, are great and rich in wealth. All the gods, in the highest heaven, have together set strength and power in you, O mighty bulls.
3. You pierced open the channels of the waters with your strength; you set the sun, the ruling lord, in the sky. Indra and Varuṇa, in the rapture of this wondrous one, you made the waters swell — make our thoughts swell too.
4. You two indeed the charioteers call on in fights, in battles; you two the worshippers, bending their knees, call on for the furtherance of peace. Rulers of both kinds of wealth, we singers call on you, Indra and Varuṇa, easy to summon.
5. Indra and Varuṇa, since you made all these creatures by the might that shapes the world — Mitra honors Varuṇa peacefully, while the fierce one, with the Maruts, goes forth in splendor.
6. For great tribute, by Varuṇa's own might, the two of you measure out strength that is firmly his. One overcame the hostile stranger who struck out; the other, with few, prevails over the many.
7. No distress, no misfortunes, no torment from anywhere touch that mortal, Indra and Varuṇa — the one whose rite you two gods eagerly approach. No mortal's deceit reaches him.
8. Come here, O heroes, with your divine help; hear my call, if you are pleased with me. For the sake of your friendship, or your closeness, grant us mercy, Indra and Varuṇa.
9. For us, Indra and Varuṇa, be the foremost fighters in every battle, you whose strength masters the peoples. When both sides call upon you in the contest, may our people prevail in winning children and descendants.
10. May Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, and Aryaman grant us splendor and great, wide-spreading shelter. We, who prosper the cosmic order, contemplate the unfailing light of Aditi, the call of the god Savitṛ.
Translator's note: verses 3 and 6 contain compressed, elliptical phrasing (apitaḥ in v.3; ajāmim... dabhrebhiḥ in v.6) whose precise referents are debated; the rendering above follows the most literal reading of the Sanskrit words rather than resolving the ambiguity by conjecture.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.82 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.82
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.
indrāvaruṇā yuvam adhvarāya no viśe janāya mahi śarma yacchatam |
dīrghaprayajyum ati yo vanuṣyati vayaṁ jayema pṛtanāsu dūḍhyaḥ || 1 ||
samrāḻ anyaḥ svarāḻ anya ucyate vām mahāntāv indrāvaruṇā mahāvasū |
viśve devāsaḥ parame vyomani saṁ vām ojo vṛṣaṇā sam balaṁ dadhuḥ || 2 ||
anv apāṁ khāny atṛntam ojasā sūryam airayataṁ divi prabhum |
indrāvaruṇā made asya māyino 'pinvatam apitaḥ pinvataṁ dhiyaḥ || 3 ||
yuvām id yutsu pṛtanāsu vahnayo yuvāṁ kṣemasya prasave mitajñavaḥ |
īśānā vasva ubhayasya kārava indrāvaruṇā suhavā havāmahe || 4 ||
indrāvaruṇā yad imāni cakrathur viśvā jātāni bhuvanasya majmanā |
kṣemeṇa mitro varuṇaṁ duvasyati marudbhir ugraḥ śubham anya īyate || 5 ||
mahe śulkāya varuṇasya nu tviṣa ojo mimāte dhruvam asya yat svam |
ajāmim anyaḥ śnathayantam ātirad dabhrebhir anyaḥ pra vṛṇoti bhūyasaḥ || 6 ||
na tam aṁho na duritāni martyam indrāvaruṇā na tapaḥ kutaś cana |
yasya devā gacchatho vītho adhvaraṁ na tam martasya naśate parihvṛtiḥ || 7 ||
arvāṅ narā daivyenāvasā gataṁ śṛṇutaṁ havaṁ yadi me jujoṣathaḥ |
yuvor hi sakhyam uta vā yad āpyam mārḍīkam indrāvaruṇā ni yacchatam || 8 ||
asmākam indrāvaruṇā bhare-bhare puroyodhā bhavataṁ kṛṣṭyojasā |
yad vāṁ havanta ubhaye adha spṛdhi naras tokasya tanayasya sātiṣu || 9 ||
asme indro varuṇo mitro aryamā dyumnaṁ yacchantu mahi śarma saprathaḥ |
avadhraṁ jyotir aditer ṛtāvṛdho devasya ślokaṁ savitur manāmahe || 10 ||
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).