Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda VIII.10 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 8 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. Whether you two are in the far-reaching dwelling, or in that luminous realm of heaven, or in the ocean, in the well-formed house — from there come, O Aśvins.
2. Or if you have blended into the sacrifice for Manu — even so, take notice of the Kāṇva's rite. I call Bṛhaspati, all the gods, Indra and Viṣṇu, the Aśvins with swift-driving steeds.
3. Those two Aśvins, of wondrous power, I now call, taken into my grasp — whose friendship reaches out to us, whose kinship stands among the gods.
4. Through whom the sacrifices proceed, among whom there are wise patrons — those two, the wise ones of the sacrifice, of the rite, who by their own power drink the sweet soma.
5. Whether today, O Aśvins rich in swift steeds, you are in the west or in the east, whether among the Druhyu, the Anu, the Turvaśa, or the Yadu — I call you; then come to me.
6. If you fly through the mid-air, you who enjoy abundance, or along these two worlds, or if by your own power you mount your chariot — from there come, O Aśvins.
Translator's note: verse 4's "asūre" (line 2) is an obscure form — read here conservatively as describing the setting where "wise patrons" attend the sacrifice; the exact sense of the word is uncertain. Verse 5 names four of the five traditional Vedic peoples (Druhyu, Anu, Turvaśa, Yadu) as places the Aśvins might be found.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.10 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 VIII.10
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.
yat stho dīrghaprasadmani yad vādo rocane divaḥ |
yad vā samudre adhy ākṛte gṛhe 'ta ā yātam aśvinā || 1 ||
yad vā yajñam manave sammimikṣathur evet kāṇvasya bodhatam |
bṛhaspatiṁ viśvān devām̐ ahaṁ huva indrāviṣṇū aśvināv āśuheṣasā || 2 ||
tyā nv a1śvinā huve sudaṁsasā gṛbhe kṛtā |
yayor asti pra ṇaḥ sakhyaṁ deveṣv adhy āpyam || 3 ||
yayor adhi pra yajñā asūre santi sūrayaḥ |
tā yajñasyādhvarasya pracetasā svadhābhir yā pibataḥ somyam madhu || 4 ||
yad adyāśvināv apāg yat prāk stho vājinīvasū |
yad druhyavy anavi turvaśe yadau huve vām atha mā gatam || 5 ||
yad antarikṣe patathaḥ purubhujā yad veme rodasī anu |
yad vā svadhābhir adhitiṣṭhatho ratham ata ā yātam aśvinā || 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).