Hymn to Indra and Varuna
Rigveda VIII.59 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 is addressed jointly to Indra and Varuna, the paired gods of might and cosmic order, and centers on the pressed soma offered to them.
1. These portions of yours have streamed forth abundantly, Indra and Varuna, into your pressed soma. At every sacrifice you two are eager for the libations, when you help the sacrificer who presses the soma.
2. The unfailing plants and the waters stood ready; Indra and Varuna, you two attained your greatness — you who have flowed to the far shore of the path through the realm of dust, whose enemy, forsaken by the gods, no one heeds.
3. True is this, Indra and Varuna: the seven voices milk out the wave of mead from the pressed stalk for you two. With these, O lords of splendor, help the worshiper who, undeceived, watches over you with devoted attention.
4. The seven sisters, sprinkling ghee, born of soma, swift in giving, in the seat of cosmic order — these that drip ghee for you, Indra and Varuna — with them grant your gifts and help the sacrificer.
5. We have declared, for great good fortune, the true Indra-power and greatness of you two radiant ones. Protect us well, Indra and Varuna, lords of splendor, with the thrice-seven ghee-dripping streams.
6. Indra and Varuna, when at the beginning you gave to the seers insight, speech, thought, and sacred knowledge — the stations which the wise, extending the sacrifice, established — these I beheld through fervor.
7. Indra and Varuna, grant untainted goodwill and increase of wealth to the sacrificers. Place offspring, prosperity, and well-being among us. Extend our lifespan, for long life.
Translator's note: verses 2 and 6 carry compressed, elliptical Vedic syntax (e.g. the epithet "niṣṣidhvarīḥ" in verse 2, and the string of abstract nouns "manīṣāṁ vāco matiṁ śrutam" in verse 6). These are rendered conservatively, following the most natural reading of each word rather than smoothing them into a freer paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.59 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.59
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.
imāni vām bhāgadheyāni sisrata indrāvaruṇā pra mahe suteṣu vām |
yajñe-yajñe ha savanā bhuraṇyatho yat sunvate yajamānāya śikṣathaḥ || 1 ||
niṣṣidhvarīr oṣadhīr āpa āstām indrāvaruṇā mahimānam āśata |
yā sisratū rajasaḥ pāre adhvano yayoḥ śatrur nakir ādeva ohate || 2 ||
satyaṁ tad indrāvaruṇā kṛśasya vām madhva ūrmiṁ duhate sapta vāṇīḥ |
tābhir dāśvāṁsam avataṁ śubhas patī yo vām adabdho abhi pāti cittibhiḥ || 3 ||
ghṛtapruṣaḥ saumyā jīradānavaḥ sapta svasāraḥ sadana ṛtasya |
yā ha vām indrāvaruṇā ghṛtaścutas tābhir dhattaṁ yajamānāya śikṣatam || 4 ||
avocāma mahate saubhagāya satyaṁ tveṣābhyām mahimānam indriyam |
asmān sv indrāvaruṇā ghṛtaścutas tribhiḥ sāptebhir avataṁ śubhas patī || 5 ||
indrāvaruṇā yad ṛṣibhyo manīṣāṁ vāco matiṁ śrutam adattam agre |
yāni sthānāny asṛjanta dhīrā yajñaṁ tanvānās tapasābhy apaśyam || 6 ||
indrāvaruṇā saumanasam adṛptaṁ rāyas poṣaṁ yajamāneṣu dhattam |
prajām puṣṭim bhūtim asmāsu dhattaṁ dīrghāyutvāya pra tirataṁ na āyuḥ || 7 ||
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).