Hymn to the Ashvins
Rigveda VIII.87 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. Your radiant hymn of praise, O Ashvins, comes like the pouring forth of Krivi — arrive! Drink, O heroic ones, that dear sweet pressed soma in heaven, like two wild bulls at a desert pool.
2. Drink the sweet gharma-offering, O Ashvins; sit down upon the sacred grass, O heroes. Rejoicing in Manu's dwelling, you knowing ones, drink down our strength.
3. The Priyamedhas have called you here with all their aids. Come on your circuit to us who have strewn the sacred grass, to the pleasing sacrifice, in our acts of worship.
4. Drink the sweet soma, O Ashvins; sit down well upon the sacred grass. Grown strong, come from heaven to our good praise, like two wild bulls to a desert pool.
5. Come now, O Ashvins, with your dapple-bodied horses. Wondrous ones with golden chariot-paths, lords of splendor, drink the soma, you who strengthen the cosmic order.
6. For we, the inspired poets, call out to you eagerly, for the winning of strength. Come readily, O graceful and wondrous Ashvins of many mighty deeds, in answer to our prayer.
Translator's note: "krivi" (verse 1) is an obscure term — possibly a proper name (a river, tribe, or praised figure) rather than a common noun; it is rendered conservatively here as a name rather than resolved into an image. "Gharma" (verse 2) is the hot milk oblation offered to the Ashvins and is kept untranslated as a technical term.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.87 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.87
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.
dyumnī vāṁ stomo aśvinā krivir na seka ā gatam |
madhvaḥ sutasya sa divi priyo narā pātaṁ gaurāv iveriṇe || 1 ||
pibataṁ gharmam madhumantam aśvinā barhiḥ sīdataṁ narā |
tā mandasānā manuṣo duroṇa ā ni pātaṁ vedasā vayaḥ || 2 ||
ā vāṁ viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ priyamedhā ahūṣata |
tā vartir yātam upa vṛktabarhiṣo juṣṭaṁ yajñaṁ diviṣṭiṣu || 3 ||
pibataṁ somam madhumantam aśvinā barhiḥ sīdataṁ sumat |
tā vāvṛdhānā upa suṣṭutiṁ divo gantaṁ gaurāv iveriṇam || 4 ||
ā nūnaṁ yātam aśvināśvebhiḥ pruṣitapsubhiḥ |
dasrā hiraṇyavartanī śubhas patī pātaṁ somam ṛtāvṛdhā || 5 ||
vayaṁ hi vāṁ havāmahe vipanyavo viprāso vājasātaye |
tā valgū dasrā purudaṁsasā dhiyāśvinā śruṣṭy ā gatam || 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).