Hymn to the Viśvedevas
Rigveda X.130 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 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 by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
The offering, which is stretched forth on all sides by its warp-threads, and spread wide through a hundred and one deeds of the gods—
'tis the fathers, journeying hither, who weave this web.
At the loom they sit, crying, “Weave ye onward, weave ye back.” A man lays out the warp and lifts it with the heddles; a man hath stretched it across the roof of heaven itself.
Here be their pegs—there sat they in their appointed seats, and made of the sāman their shuttles for weaving the work.
What was its shape? What likeness bore it?
What bound it one to another? What served for ghee, and what for frame?
What meter stood for measure? What was the first cry, the hymn begun— when all the gods gave up the god into the fire?
The gāyatrī was yokefellow to Agni;
Savitar was bound with the uṣṇihā's thread; Soma took hold of the anuṣṭubh, and waxed in might through song; the br̥hatī gave tongue to the speech of Bṛhaspati.
The virāj is the bright crown of Mitra and Varuṇa; the triṣṭubh is Indra’s rightful share of day.
The jagatī passed into the All-Gods’ hands.
So the seers, sons of Manu, set all in order.
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.130
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.
yo yajño viśvatas tantubhis tata ekaśataṁ devakarmebhir āyataḥ |
ime vayanti pitaro ya āyayuḥ pra vayāpa vayety āsate tate || 1 ||
pumām̐ enaṁ tanuta ut kṛṇatti pumān vi tatne adhi nāke asmin |
ime mayūkhā upa sedur ū sadaḥ sāmāni cakrus tasarāṇy otave || 2 ||
kāsīt pramā pratimā kiṁ nidānam ājyaṁ kim āsīt paridhiḥ ka āsīt |
chandaḥ kim āsīt praügaṁ kim ukthaṁ yad devā devam ayajanta viśve || 3 ||
agner gāyatry abhavat sayugvoṣṇihayā savitā sam babhūva |
anuṣṭubhā soma ukthair mahasvān bṛhaspater bṛhatī vācam āvat || 4 ||
virāṇ mitrāvaruṇayor abhiśrīr indrasya triṣṭub iha bhāgo ahnaḥ |
viśvān devāñ jagaty ā viveśa tena cākḷpra ṛṣayo manuṣyāḥ || 5 ||
cākḷpre tena ṛṣayo manuṣyā yajñe jāte pitaro naḥ purāṇe |
paśyan manye manasā cakṣasā tān ya imaṁ yajñam ayajanta pūrve || 6 ||
sahastomāḥ sahachandasa āvṛtaḥ sahapramā ṛṣayaḥ sapta daivyāḥ |
pūrveṣām panthām anudṛśya dhīrā anvālebhire rathyo3 na raśmīn || 7 ||
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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