Hymn to Uṣas
Rigveda I.35 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Uṣas, the goddess of dawn, bringer of light, daughter of heaven, mother of mornings. 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.
We praise Savitṛ, the golden-handed god, who beareth the sun across the sky.
Thou impeller of all things, thou bringer of the dawn most bright!
The whole world waketh at thy coming; all creatures stir and come alive.
The birds do sing; the beasts do rise; the flowers open to thy light.
Savitṛ, thou art the source of all the motion in the world.
By thy power do the waters flow; the wind doth blow; the light doth shine.
Thou impellest the sun upon his journey through the vault of heaven.
Thou drivest forward all the stars; thou makest day to follow night.
In thy golden hands thou holdest all the worlds, and all the creatures in them.
Thou bintest fast the heaven and earth with cords invisible and sure.
The cosmic order—ṛta—floweth forth from thee, the eternal impeller.
Without thy strength, all would lie still; all would be frozen in the dark.
When Savitṛ doth rise at dawn, the world is born anew each day.
The man who sleepeth waketh up; the mother nurses her newborn babe.
The farmer goeth to his field; the merchant openeth his shop.
All life doth stir and move because Savitṛ hath given them the impetus.
Thine hands are golden, bright and fair; thy light is warm upon the earth.
Thou art the giver of all growth; thou art the granter of all blessing.
The crops do grow because of thee; the cattle thrive upon thy rays.
Savitṛ, thou art the life-force of the cosmos, the eternal stirrer.
At eventide, when Savitṛ doth rest, the world grows dark and still.
The creatures sleep; the night doth fall; peace cometh to the weary world.
But when the dawn doth come again, thou risest up with golden light.
Accept our praise, O Savitṛ, and bless us all our days.
Colophon
Rigveda I.35 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 Uṣas, the goddess of dawn, bringer of light, daughter of heaven, mother of mornings. 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.35
hvayāmy agnim prathamaṁ svastaye hvayāmi mitrāvaruṇāv ihāvase |
hvayāmi rātrīṁ jagato niveśanīṁ hvayāmi devaṁ savitāram ūtaye || 1 ||
ā kṛṣṇena rajasā vartamāno niveśayann amṛtam martyaṁ ca |
hiraṇyayena savitā rathenā devo yāti bhuvanāni paśyan || 2 ||
yāti devaḥ pravatā yāty udvatā yāti śubhrābhyāṁ yajato haribhyām |
ā devo yāti savitā parāvato 'pa viśvā duritā bādhamānaḥ || 3 ||
abhīvṛtaṁ kṛśanair viśvarūpaṁ hiraṇyaśamyaṁ yajato bṛhantam |
āsthād rathaṁ savitā citrabhānuḥ kṛṣṇā rajāṁsi taviṣīṁ dadhānaḥ || 4 ||
vi janāñ chyāvāḥ śitipādo akhyan rathaṁ hiraṇyapraügaṁ vahantaḥ |
śaśvad viśaḥ savitur daivyasyopasthe viśvā bhuvanāni tasthuḥ || 5 ||
tisro dyāvaḥ savitur dvā upasthām̐ ekā yamasya bhuvane virāṣāṭ |
āṇiṁ na rathyam amṛtādhi tasthur iha bravītu ya u tac ciketat || 6 ||
vi suparṇo antarikṣāṇy akhyad gabhīravepā asuraḥ sunīthaḥ |
kve3dānīṁ sūryaḥ kaś ciketa katamāṁ dyāṁ raśmir asyā tatāna || 7 ||
aṣṭau vy akhyat kakubhaḥ pṛthivyās trī dhanva yojanā sapta sindhūn |
hiraṇyākṣaḥ savitā deva āgād dadhad ratnā dāśuṣe vāryāṇi || 8 ||
hiraṇyapāṇiḥ savitā vicarṣaṇir ubhe dyāvāpṛthivī antar īyate |
apāmīvām bādhate veti sūryam abhi kṛṣṇena rajasā dyām ṛṇoti || 9 ||
hiraṇyahasto asuraḥ sunīthaḥ sumṛḻīkaḥ svavām̐ yātv arvāṅ |
apasedhan rakṣaso yātudhānān asthād devaḥ pratidoṣaṁ gṛṇānaḥ || 10 ||
ye te panthāḥ savitaḥ pūrvyāso 'reṇavaḥ sukṛtā antarikṣe |
tebhir no adya pathibhiḥ sugebhī rakṣā ca no adhi ca brūhi deva || 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).
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