Hymn to the Ādityas

Rigveda VIII.47 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. The hymn calls on the Ādityas — Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, and their mother Aditi — for shelter from harm, and closes with verses that send bad dreams away to Trita Āptya.

1. Great is your help, O great ones, Varuṇa and Mitra, for the one who gives offering. Whoever you Ādityas protect from deceit, evil does not reach him. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

2. Know, O gods, O Ādityas, how to ward off evils. Like birds spreading their wings above, stretch your shelter out over us. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

3. Stretch that shelter over us, as birds spread their wings. We call to mind all things worth sheltering, O you who know all things. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

4. To whomever the wise ones have granted a dwelling and life — these Ādityas hold power over the wealth of all of Manu's people. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

5. May evils and hard places pass around us, as a charioteer passes around them. May we stand in Indra's shelter and in the favor of the Ādityas. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

6. Let this people turn aside from wearing away what you have given. O gods, ample is your bounty, and whom you Ādityas do not strike falls to no harm. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

7. No sharp weapon touches him, no heavy affliction comes upon him, for whom you Ādityas have spread wide shelter. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

8. In you, O gods, we stand as men fighting within armor. You save us from great wrongdoing; you save us from small. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

9. May Aditi shelter us, may Aditi grant us refuge — she, the mother of wealthy Mitra, of Aryaman, and of Varuṇa. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

10. Whatever shelter, whatever refuge, whatever is auspicious, whatever is free of sickness, whatever threefold protection is worth taking shelter in — grant that to us, O gods. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

11. Look down upon us, O Ādityas, as a watchman looks out from a riverbank. Lead us on, as one leads a horse to an easy ford, to a good crossing. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

12. Here there is no blessing for the one who serves the demons, nor for the one who holds back what is due. But there is blessing for the milk-cow, and for the hero who seeks glory. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

13. Whatever wrong has been done, O gods, whether in the open or hidden, place all of it far away from us, upon Trita Āptya. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

14. And whatever bad dream lies upon our cattle, and whatever lies upon us, O shining daughter of heaven, carry that away to Trita Āptya. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

15. Let them make him a golden ornament, or a garland, O daughter of heaven — we hand over every bad dream to Trita Āptya. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

16. For his food, for his labor, for the share due to the one who has come seeking it — O Dawn, carry the bad dream away to Trita and to Dvita. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

17. As we settle a fraction, as we settle a hoof-share, as we settle a debt, so we deliver every bad dream entirely upon Āptya. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

18. We have won; today we have gained; we stand free of blame. The bad dream we feared, O Dawn — let it shine away. Flawless are your protections; good are your protections.

Translator's note: several phrases in this hymn are genuinely obscure and rendered conservatively. In verse 6, "vāyati" (root vā-, "to weave/diminish") is uncertain in context and rendered as "wearing away." In verse 12, "rakṣasvine," "nāvayai," and "nopayā" describe classes of person denied blessing; the exact sense of the second and third terms is unclear, and they are rendered generally as one who serves demons and one who withholds what is due. The refrain "anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ" is rendered uniformly as "Flawless are your protections; good are your protections" throughout.

Colophon

Rigveda VIII.47 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.47

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.

mahi vo mahatām avo varuṇa mitra dāśuṣe |
yam ādityā abhi druho rakṣathā nem aghaṁ naśad anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 1 ||

vidā devā aghānām ādityāso apākṛtim |
pakṣā vayo yathopari vy a1sme śarma yacchatānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 2 ||

vy a1sme adhi śarma tat pakṣā vayo na yantana |
viśvāni viśvavedaso varūthyā manāmahe 'nehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 3 ||

yasmā arāsata kṣayaṁ jīvātuṁ ca pracetasaḥ |
manor viśvasya ghed ima ādityā rāya īśate 'nehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 4 ||

pari ṇo vṛṇajann aghā durgāṇi rathyo yathā |
syāmed indrasya śarmaṇy ādityānām utāvasy anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 5 ||

parihvṛted anā jano yuṣmādattasya vāyati |
devā adabhram āśa vo yam ādityā ahetanānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 6 ||

na taṁ tigmaṁ cana tyajo na drāsad abhi taṁ guru |
yasmā u śarma sapratha ādityāso arādhvam anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 7 ||

yuṣme devā api ṣmasi yudhyanta iva varmasu |
yūyam maho na enaso yūyam arbhād uruṣyatānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 8 ||

aditir na uruṣyatv aditiḥ śarma yacchatu |
mātā mitrasya revato 'ryamṇo varuṇasya cānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 9 ||

yad devāḥ śarma śaraṇaṁ yad bhadraṁ yad anāturam |
tridhātu yad varūthya1ṁ tad asmāsu vi yantanānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 10 ||

ādityā ava hi khyatādhi kūlād iva spaśaḥ |
sutīrtham arvato yathānu no neṣathā sugam anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 11 ||

neha bhadraṁ rakṣasvine nāvayai nopayā uta |
gave ca bhadraṁ dhenave vīrāya ca śravasyate 'nehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 12 ||

yad āvir yad apīcya1ṁ devāso asti duṣkṛtam |
trite tad viśvam āptya āre asmad dadhātanānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 13 ||

yac ca goṣu duṣṣvapnyaṁ yac cāsme duhitar divaḥ |
tritāya tad vibhāvary āptyāya parā vahānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 14 ||

niṣkaṁ vā ghā kṛṇavate srajaṁ vā duhitar divaḥ |
trite duṣṣvapnyaṁ sarvam āptye pari dadmasy anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 15 ||

tadannāya tadapase tam bhāgam upaseduṣe |
tritāya ca dvitāya coṣo duṣṣvapnyaṁ vahānehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 16 ||

yathā kalāṁ yathā śaphaṁ yatha ṛṇaṁ saṁnayāmasi |
evā duṣṣvapnyaṁ sarvam āptye saṁ nayāmasy anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 17 ||

ajaiṣmādyāsanāma cābhūmānāgaso vayam |
uṣo yasmād duṣṣvapnyād abhaiṣmāpa tad ucchatv anehaso va ūtayaḥ suūtayo va ūtayaḥ || 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).