Hymn to Brihaspati
Rigveda VII.97 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. At the sacrifice — seat of men, of heaven and earth — where the men who seek the gods rejoice, where the pressed drinks are prepared for Indra: may he come there first, for exhilaration and for vigor.
2. We choose the divine helps; may Brihaspati choose great ones for us, O friends, so that we may stand blameless before the bounteous god, he who gives to us from afar like a father.
3. Him, the foremost, most gracious lord of the sacred formulation, I praise with homage and with offerings. May the great, divine praise-song follow Indra too, who is king of the sacred formulation the gods themselves made.
4. May he, dearest to us, take his seat in our dwelling — Brihaspati, who holds every boon. May he grant the desire for wealth and good strength of men; may he carry us safe past those who pursue us unharmed.
5. Let us call on that hymn, pleasing to the immortal one, which the immortals born long ago set down for us — let us call on Brihaspati, pure of cry, worthy of worship, lord of the dwelling-places, unrivaled.
6. Him, Brihaspati, the strong ruddy horses carry, drawing together; whose gathering-place is dark even amid their strength, though they wear a ruddy form like a cloud.
7. For he is pure, hundred-feathered, he is cleansing, golden-axed, vigorous, sun-winning. That Brihaspati, easy to approach, lofty, is the one who most abundantly pours out offerings for his friends.
8. The divine pair, Heaven and Earth, parents of the god, have made Brihaspati great with their greatness. Be skillful, friends, toward the skillful one — may he make the crossing easy, the ford easy, for the sacred formulation.
9. This well-woven prayer, O lord of the sacred formulation, this invocation, has been made for you two — for you and for Indra, wielder of the thunderbolt. Favor our thoughts, rouse our abundant devotions, consume the hostilities of the grudging rival.
10. O Brihaspati, you and Indra rule over wealth, both heavenly and earthly. Grant riches to the one who praises you, even to the humble singer. Protect us always with your blessings.
Translator's note: verse 6's "sadhasthaṁ" (gathering-place/seat) and verse 7's "śatapatraḥ" (hundred-feathered/hundred-leaved) admit more than one reading; rendered here conservatively, following the most literal sense of the words.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.97 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.97
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.
yajñe divo nṛṣadane pṛthivyā naro yatra devayavo madanti |
indrāya yatra savanāni sunve gaman madāya prathamaṁ vayaś ca || 1 ||
ā daivyā vṛṇīmahe 'vāṁsi bṛhaspatir no maha ā sakhāyaḥ |
yathā bhavema mīḻhuṣe anāgā yo no dātā parāvataḥ piteva || 2 ||
tam u jyeṣṭhaṁ namasā havirbhiḥ suśevam brahmaṇas patiṁ gṛṇīṣe |
indraṁ śloko mahi daivyaḥ siṣaktu yo brahmaṇo devakṛtasya rājā || 3 ||
sa ā no yoniṁ sadatu preṣṭho bṛhaspatir viśvavāro yo asti |
kāmo rāyaḥ suvīryasya taṁ dāt parṣan no ati saścato ariṣṭān || 4 ||
tam ā no arkam amṛtāya juṣṭam ime dhāsur amṛtāsaḥ purājāḥ |
śucikrandaṁ yajatam pastyānām bṛhaspatim anarvāṇaṁ huvema || 5 ||
taṁ śagmāso aruṣāso aśvā bṛhaspatiṁ sahavāho vahanti |
sahaś cid yasya nīlavat sadhasthaṁ nabho na rūpam aruṣaṁ vasānāḥ || 6 ||
sa hi śuciḥ śatapatraḥ sa śundhyur hiraṇyavāśīr iṣiraḥ svarṣāḥ |
bṛhaspatiḥ sa svāveśa ṛṣvaḥ purū sakhibhya āsutiṁ kariṣṭhaḥ || 7 ||
devī devasya rodasī janitrī bṛhaspatiṁ vāvṛdhatur mahitvā |
dakṣāyyāya dakṣatā sakhāyaḥ karad brahmaṇe sutarā sugādhā || 8 ||
iyaṁ vām brahmaṇas pate suvṛktir brahmendrāya vajriṇe akāri |
aviṣṭaṁ dhiyo jigṛtam puraṁdhīr jajastam aryo vanuṣām arātīḥ || 9 ||
bṛhaspate yuvam indraś ca vasvo divyasyeśāthe uta pārthivasya |
dhattaṁ rayiṁ stuvate kīraye cid yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 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).