Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda VII.87 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. Varuṇa carved paths for the sun, the sea-bound floods of the rivers. Like a racehorse let loose, following the cosmic order, he made the great streams run, day after day.
2. Your breath, the wind, roars through the atmosphere, like a restless creature that has fed on pasture. Between these two great, vast worlds — heaven and earth — lie all your beloved domains, Varuṇa.
3. Varuṇa's spies, well appointed, watch over both well-formed worlds — the truthful seers, wise in sacrifice, far-seeing, who set this hymn in motion.
4. Varuṇa spoke to me, the thoughtful one: the inviolable cow bears thrice seven names. Let the one who knows not speak the hidden things of that track — the sage, teaching for the age to come.
5. Three heavens are set within him; three earths lie below, arranged sixfold. The wise king Varuṇa made this golden swing in heaven, for splendor.
6. Varuṇa stood over the river like the sky, like a white, gleaming drop, a mighty wild creature — deep in counsel, measurer of the atmosphere, of far-reaching dominion, king of all that exists.
7. He who shows mercy even to one who has done wrong — may we stand sinless before Varuṇa. Prospering under Aditi's ordinances: protect us always, all you gods, with your blessings.
Translator's note: verse 4 is one of the more cryptic passages in the Rigveda. "The inviolable cow" (aghnyā) that "bears thrice seven names" and the "hidden things of that track" (padasya guhyā) resist confident paraphrase; the rendering here follows the Sanskrit words conservatively rather than supplying an interpretation the text does not state outright.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.87 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.87
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.
radat patho varuṇaḥ sūryāya prārṇāṁsi samudriyā nadīnām |
sargo na sṛṣṭo arvatīr ṛtāyañ cakāra mahīr avanīr ahabhyaḥ || 1 ||
ātmā te vāto raja ā navīnot paśur na bhūrṇir yavase sasavān |
antar mahī bṛhatī rodasīme viśvā te dhāma varuṇa priyāṇi || 2 ||
pari spaśo varuṇasya smadiṣṭā ubhe paśyanti rodasī sumeke |
ṛtāvānaḥ kavayo yajñadhīrāḥ pracetaso ya iṣayanta manma || 3 ||
uvāca me varuṇo medhirāya triḥ sapta nāmāghnyā bibharti |
vidvān padasya guhyā na vocad yugāya vipra uparāya śikṣan || 4 ||
tisro dyāvo nihitā antar asmin tisro bhūmīr uparāḥ ṣaḍvidhānāḥ |
gṛtso rājā varuṇaś cakra etaṁ divi preṅkhaṁ hiraṇyayaṁ śubhe kam || 5 ||
ava sindhuṁ varuṇo dyaur iva sthād drapso na śveto mṛgas tuviṣmān |
gambhīraśaṁso rajaso vimānaḥ supārakṣatraḥ sato asya rājā || 6 ||
yo mṛḻayāti cakruṣe cid āgo vayaṁ syāma varuṇe anāgāḥ |
anu vratāny aditer ṛdhanto yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 7 ||
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).