Hymn to Dyāvāpṛthivī
Rigveda I.159 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Dyāvāpṛthivī, Heaven and Earth, the great parental pair who sustain all living things. 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 Dyāvāpṛthivī! O Heaven and Earth! O cosmic mother and father! From your union sprang forth all that is. From your embrace cometh all life, all growth, all becoming.
O Sky! Thou art vast beyond measure, thy form extendeth infinitely upward, thy blue expanse containeth the sun, the moon, the stars. Thou art the abode of the gods, the dwelling-place of the immortals. Thou art mighty and strong, yet graceful in thy movements.
O Earth! Thou art broad and generous, thy bosom bringeth forth grain and fruit, thy body beareth the weight of all creatures. Thou art mother to all things that dwell upon thee. Thou art fertile and life-giving, yet firm and steady.
How did ye come together? When was the first union between the boundless sky and the generous earth? From what primal passion arose this cosmic marriage? The gods themselves were born of your union, O mighty ones!
From thee, Sky, came forth the rain that watereth the earth. From thee, Earth, came forth the soil in which the seed taketh root. Together ye create the possibility of all growth, all nourishment, all life itself.
Thou art separate, yet thou art one. Thou art male and female, active and receptive, vast and intimate. Thy union is the model for all relationships, the pattern upon which all lesser loves are fashioned.
The space between you is filled with air and light. The wind passeth between you as the breath of life. The birds fly in that space. The clouds dwell there. All creatures that move in that middle realm between you are born of your love.
O Dyāvāpṛthivī! We, who are born of your union and who dwell in that middle realm between you, do offer thee our praise and gratitude! May thy embrace never cease! May thy union endure eternal! May the space between you forever be filled with the sweet breath of life!
Colophon
Rigveda I.159 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 Dyāvāpṛthivī, Heaven and Earth, the great parental pair who sustain all living things. 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.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.159
pra dyāvā yajñaiḥ pṛthivī ṛtāvṛdhā mahī stuṣe vidatheṣu pracetasā |
devebhir ye devaputre sudaṁsasetthā dhiyā vāryāṇi prabhūṣataḥ || 1 ||
uta manye pitur adruho mano mātur mahi svatavas tad dhavīmabhiḥ |
suretasā pitarā bhūma cakratur uru prajāyā amṛtaṁ varīmabhiḥ || 2 ||
te sūnavaḥ svapasaḥ sudaṁsaso mahī jajñur mātarā pūrvacittaye |
sthātuś ca satyaṁ jagataś ca dharmaṇi putrasya pāthaḥ padam advayāvinaḥ || 3 ||
te māyino mamire supracetaso jāmī sayonī mithunā samokasā |
navyaṁ-navyaṁ tantum ā tanvate divi samudre antaḥ kavayaḥ sudītayaḥ || 4 ||
tad rādho adya savitur vareṇyaṁ vayaṁ devasya prasave manāmahe |
asmabhyaṁ dyāvāpṛthivī sucetunā rayiṁ dhattaṁ vasumantaṁ śatagvinam || 5 ||
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).
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