In Praise of the Sacrificer
Rigveda VIII.31 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. He who sacrifices, who truly offers sacrifice, who presses the soma and cooks the offering — he indeed delights in the sacred word of Indra.
2. He who gives Indra the rice-cake, the soma mixed with milk — Śakra surely guards that man from distress.
3. His chariot shall be bright, driven on by the gods, and it shall grow strong, winning all that belongs to his foes.
4. In his house Iḷā, rich in offspring and rich in milch-cows, never fails — she yields her milk day after day.
5. The couple, of one mind, who press the soma and hasten together to the rite — the gods come to them with their unfailing draught of milk.
6. Meeting together at the ritual grass spread for the swift offering, the two do not flag in the contests for strength.
7. They do not turn away from the gods' favor, nor do they seek to hide from it; they strive to win great fame.
8. Blessed with sons, blessed with daughters, the two — both adorned in gold — live out the whole span of life.
9. Let those whose offering is welcomed, who have won their wealth, show favor for the sake of the sacred order; they render homage among the gods.
10. We choose for ourselves the shelter of the mountains, of the rivers, and the close shelter of Viṣṇu.
11. May Pūṣan come, and wealth, and Bhaga, and well-being, most sustaining of all — wide is the road toward well-being.
12. Steadfast devotion, unrivaled, all things by the will of the god — that is the very freedom from harm of the Ādityas.
13. So that Mitra, Aryaman, and Varuṇa may be our guardians, and the paths of the sacred order be easy to walk.
14. I praise for you, with my hymn, Agni the ancient god of good things, honoring him, dear to many, like a friend who brings the land to flourish.
15. Swift is the chariot of the one devoted to the gods, and swift the hero in whatever battles — he who as sacrificer seeks to win the gods' favor surpasses the one who does not sacrifice.
16. You come to no harm, sacrificer, nor you who press the soma, nor you who seek the gods — he who as sacrificer seeks to win the gods' favor surpasses the one who does not sacrifice.
17. No one overtakes him through rival deeds; he does not fail, nor will he ever fail — he who as sacrificer seeks to win the gods' favor surpasses the one who does not sacrifice.
18. Here shall be heroic strength, and here that abundance of fine horses — he who as sacrificer seeks to win the gods' favor surpasses the one who does not sacrifice.
Translator's note: Verse 9 is the most difficult in the hymn — "sam ūdho romaśaṁ hataḥ" (roughly "the shaggy udder is struck/joined") resists confident rendering and has been left out of the English above rather than guessed at; the surrounding lines (offering accepted, wealth made, homage rendered among the gods) are rendered as they stand. "Dampatī" (verses 5–9) names a devoted pair — householder and wife — jointly performing the rite; it is rendered here simply as "the couple" / "the two."
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.31 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.31
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.
yo yajāti yajāta it sunavac ca pacāti ca |
brahmed indrasya cākanat || 1 ||
puroḻāśaṁ yo asmai somaṁ rarata āśiram |
pād it taṁ śakro aṁhasaḥ || 2 ||
tasya dyumām̐ asad ratho devajūtaḥ sa śūśuvat |
viśvā vanvann amitriyā || 3 ||
asya prajāvatī gṛhe 'saścantī dive-dive |
iḻā dhenumatī duhe || 4 ||
yā dampatī samanasā sunuta ā ca dhāvataḥ |
devāso nityayāśirā || 5 ||
prati prāśavyām̐ itaḥ samyañcā barhir āśāte |
na tā vājeṣu vāyataḥ || 6 ||
na devānām api hnutaḥ sumatiṁ na jugukṣataḥ |
śravo bṛhad vivāsataḥ || 7 ||
putriṇā tā kumāriṇā viśvam āyur vy aśnutaḥ |
ubhā hiraṇyapeśasā || 8 ||
vītihotrā kṛtadvasū daśasyantāmṛtāya kam |
sam ūdho romaśaṁ hato deveṣu kṛṇuto duvaḥ || 9 ||
ā śarma parvatānāṁ vṛṇīmahe nadīnām |
ā viṣṇoḥ sacābhuvaḥ || 10 ||
aitu pūṣā rayir bhagaḥ svasti sarvadhātamaḥ |
urur adhvā svastaye || 11 ||
aramatir anarvaṇo viśvo devasya manasā |
ādityānām aneha it || 12 ||
yathā no mitro aryamā varuṇaḥ santi gopāḥ |
sugā ṛtasya panthāḥ || 13 ||
agniṁ vaḥ pūrvyaṁ girā devam īḻe vasūnām |
saparyantaḥ purupriyam mitraṁ na kṣetrasādhasam || 14 ||
makṣū devavato rathaḥ śūro vā pṛtsu kāsu cit |
devānāṁ ya in mano yajamāna iyakṣaty abhīd ayajvano bhuvat || 15 ||
na yajamāna riṣyasi na sunvāna na devayo |
devānāṁ ya in mano yajamāna iyakṣaty abhīd ayajvano bhuvat || 16 ||
nakiṣ ṭaṁ karmaṇā naśan na pra yoṣan na yoṣati |
devānāṁ ya in mano yajamāna iyakṣaty abhīd ayajvano bhuvat || 17 ||
asad atra suvīryam uta tyad āśvaśvyam |
devānāṁ ya in mano yajamāna iyakṣaty abhīd ayajvano bhuvat || 18 ||
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).