Hymn to Mitra and Varuṇa
Rigveda I.153 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Mitra and Varuṇa, the great pair: Mitra the lord of covenant and Varuṇa the upholder of cosmic law. 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 Mitra and Varuṇa! We come before you in supplication and fear! We have broken the covenant. We have spoken falsehood. We have cheated in our dealings. We have coveted what belonged to another. We deserve thy wrath!
Yet we beg for mercy! Look not upon our sins with such severity that destruction must surely follow! We are mortal and weak. Our nature inclineth us toward error. Though we strive to keep the sacred law, we stumble and fall short.
Varuṇa! Great judge! We know that thy bonds already bind the wrongdoer. The noose of consequence drawneth tighter with each transgression. Yet we implore thee—do not bind us beyond the possibility of redemption! Leave us a path by which we might escape our just punishment!
Mitra! Compassionate one! Use thy power to intercede on our behalf! Thy friendship and understanding are as a shield against the severity of Varuṇa's judgment. Speak for us! Remind Varuṇa that we are not wholly evil, that good dwelleth also within our hearts!
We will amend ourselves! We will sacrifice the finest offering! We will speak only truth henceforth! We will keep faith with those who trust us! We will honour the covenant!
O mighty ones! If we cannot escape the consequence of our deeds, then grant us the strength to endure them with dignity! Do not crush us utterly! Leave life within us so that we might learn and grow!
The rope that bindeth the sinner is terrifying, but we understand now why it must be. Without it, there would be no law. Without law, there would be only chaos. We accept thy judgment, O Varuṇa! Yet we ask that it be tempered with the mercy of Mitra!
We praise you and beg your compassion! Forgive us, O great ones! Show us the path back to righteousness!
Colophon
Rigveda I.153 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 Mitra and Varuṇa, the great pair: Mitra the lord of covenant and Varuṇa the upholder of cosmic law. 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.153
yajāmahe vām mahaḥ sajoṣā havyebhir mitrāvaruṇā namobhiḥ |
ghṛtair ghṛtasnū adha yad vām asme adhvaryavo na dhītibhir bharanti || 1 ||
prastutir vāṁ dhāma na prayuktir ayāmi mitrāvaruṇā suvṛktiḥ |
anakti yad vāṁ vidatheṣu hotā sumnaṁ vāṁ sūrir vṛṣaṇāv iyakṣan || 2 ||
pīpāya dhenur aditir ṛtāya janāya mitrāvaruṇā havirde |
hinoti yad vāṁ vidathe saparyan sa rātahavyo mānuṣo na hotā || 3 ||
uta vāṁ vikṣu madyāsv andho gāva āpaś ca pīpayanta devīḥ |
uto no asya pūrvyaḥ patir dan vītam pātam payasa usriyāyāḥ || 4 ||
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).
🌲