Hymn to Rudra
Rigveda I.114 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Rudra, the fierce healer, lord of storms and mountains, father of the Maruts. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
O Rudra, terrible! O god most dread! We bow before thee with much fear and dread. Thou art the archer with the deadly bow; thou art the one from whom the demons flow.
O fierce one, thou dost wear the lightning bright upon thy brow, and hold the power of might. Thy form is wild, thy voice doth shake the earth, and all things tremble at thy fearful birth.
We know thy wrath is swift and sure and strong; thy arrows come to those who do thee wrong. Yet thou art also merciful and kind, to those who give thee praise and humble mind.
O Rudra, hear our prayer, we come to thee not with our boldness, but our poverty. We are but mortals weak and small and poor; we seek thy mercy and thy healing lore.
Turn back thy wrath from us and from our kin; forgive us now for all our mortal sin. Grant us the healing of thy gentle hand; let us not feel the power of thy brand.
Thou art the god of fever and of pain, the god who summons pestilence and bane. Yet thou art also he who hath the cure, whose touch can make the suffering one pure.
O Shiva bright, most merciful of all, we raise to thee our voices small. Do not destroy us with thy fatal dart; but grant to us thy most compassionate heart.
We offer thee our praise and our devotion; we come before thee with our souls' emotion. Accept our offerings, hear our humble cry, and let us not beneath thy anger die.
O Rudra powerful, grant us thy blessing, and keep us safe from all that's distressing. Let us forever know thy gentle side, and in thy mercy let us always hide.
Colophon
Rigveda I.114 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, the version that has been transmitted and is considered canonical in the mainstream tradition. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE; this hymn addresses Rudra, the fierce healer, lord of storms and mountains, father of the Maruts. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation session to be documented during Kshatriya Blood Rule audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.114
imā rudrāya tavase kapardine kṣayadvīrāya pra bharāmahe matīḥ |
yathā śam asad dvipade catuṣpade viśvam puṣṭaṁ grāme asminn anāturam || 1 ||
mṛḻā no rudrota no mayas kṛdhi kṣayadvīrāya namasā vidhema te |
yac chaṁ ca yoś ca manur āyeje pitā tad aśyāma tava rudra praṇītiṣu || 2 ||
aśyāma te sumatiṁ devayajyayā kṣayadvīrasya tava rudra mīḍhvaḥ |
sumnāyann id viśo asmākam ā carāriṣṭavīrā juhavāma te haviḥ || 3 ||
tveṣaṁ vayaṁ rudraṁ yajñasādhaṁ vaṅkuṁ kavim avase ni hvayāmahe |
āre asmad daivyaṁ heḻo asyatu sumatim id vayam asyā vṛṇīmahe || 4 ||
divo varāham aruṣaṁ kapardinaṁ tveṣaṁ rūpaṁ namasā ni hvayāmahe |
haste bibhrad bheṣajā vāryāṇi śarma varma cchardir asmabhyaṁ yaṁsat || 5 ||
idam pitre marutām ucyate vacaḥ svādoḥ svādīyo rudrāya vardhanam |
rāsvā ca no amṛta martabhojanaṁ tmane tokāya tanayāya mṛḻa || 6 ||
mā no mahāntam uta mā no arbhakam mā na ukṣantam uta mā na ukṣitam |
mā no vadhīḥ pitaram mota mātaram mā naḥ priyās tanvo rudra rīriṣaḥ || 7 ||
mā nas toke tanaye mā na āyau mā no goṣu mā no aśveṣu rīriṣaḥ |
vīrān mā no rudra bhāmito vadhīr haviṣmantaḥ sadam it tvā havāmahe || 8 ||
upa te stomān paśupā ivākaraṁ rāsvā pitar marutāṁ sumnam asme |
bhadrā hi te sumatir mṛḻayattamāthā vayam ava it te vṛṇīmahe || 9 ||
āre te goghnam uta pūruṣaghnaṁ kṣayadvīra sumnam asme te astu |
mṛḻā ca no adhi ca brūhi devādhā ca naḥ śarma yaccha dvibarhāḥ || 10 ||
avocāma namo asmā avasyavaḥ śṛṇotu no havaṁ rudro marutvān |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 11 ||
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).
🌲