Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda VII.89 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 Varuṇa, let me not yet go to the house of clay, O king. Have mercy, good ruler — have mercy.
2. When I go about quivering, like a blown-up skin bag, O wielder of the stone — have mercy, good ruler, have mercy.
3. Through weakness of will, O bright one, I have gone against your intent. Have mercy, good ruler — have mercy.
4. Thirst seized the singer even as he stood in the midst of the waters. Have mercy, good ruler — have mercy.
5. Whatever this offense is, Varuṇa, that we mortals commit against the divine people, whatever of your ordinances we have confounded through thoughtlessness — for that sin, god, do not harm us.
Translator's note: "house of clay" (mṛnmayaṁ gṛham) is the grave. "Wielder of the stone" (adrivaḥ) is a fixed Vedic epithet for a god armed with the (thunder-)stone; it is kept literal rather than smoothed into "thunderer." Verse 4's image — a worshiper thirsting while standing in water — is traditionally read as dropsy/bodily affliction, but the Sanskrit itself states only thirst amid water, so no illness is named outright in this translation.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.89 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.89
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.
mo ṣu varuṇa mṛnmayaṁ gṛhaṁ rājann ahaṁ gamam |
mṛḻā sukṣatra mṛḻaya || 1 ||
yad emi prasphurann iva dṛtir na dhmāto adrivaḥ |
mṛḻā sukṣatra mṛḻaya || 2 ||
kratvaḥ samaha dīnatā pratīpaṁ jagamā śuce |
mṛḻā sukṣatra mṛḻaya || 3 ||
apām madhye tasthivāṁsaṁ tṛṣṇāvidaj jaritāram |
mṛḻā sukṣatra mṛḻaya || 4 ||
yat kiṁ cedaṁ varuṇa daivye jane 'bhidroham manuṣyā3ś carāmasi |
acittī yat tava dharmā yuyopima mā nas tasmād enaso deva rīriṣaḥ || 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).