Hymn to Yama
Rigveda X.135 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 leafy bough where Yama holds his feast with the gods— thither our father, the lord of our house, did follow the path of the fore-elders.
He, walking that path of the olden kin, wandering down that dreadsome road, I watched him go, though my heart drew back—yet ever did I long again to behold him.
Thou madest, my son, a new-wrought chariot, lacking wheels, born of thy thought alone—its shaft is one, yet it turneth every way. Unseen it is, yet thou ridest it still.
The car thou didst set rolling, fashioned by seers filled with the breath of song— after it rolled the sāman’s tune, floating hence upon a bark.
Who sired the boy? Who loosed the chariot to its course?
Who can now declare to us this day how the burden was unbound and the debt made clean?
When that burden was lifted, the crown arose; the root lay stretched before, and behind was shaped the going-forth.
Behold the seat of Yama—called the gods’ own hall.
There is his pipe blown loud; there is he, clad in hymns, made fair.
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.135
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.
yasmin vṛkṣe supalāśe devaiḥ sampibate yamaḥ |
atrā no viśpatiḥ pitā purāṇām̐ anu venati || 1 ||
purāṇām̐ anuvenantaṁ carantam pāpayāmuyā |
asūyann abhy acākaśaṁ tasmā aspṛhayam punaḥ || 2 ||
yaṁ kumāra navaṁ ratham acakram manasākṛṇoḥ |
ekeṣaṁ viśvataḥ prāñcam apaśyann adhi tiṣṭhasi || 3 ||
yaṁ kumāra prāvartayo rathaṁ viprebhyas pari |
taṁ sāmānu prāvartata sam ito nāvy āhitam || 4 ||
kaḥ kumāram ajanayad rathaṁ ko nir avartayat |
kaḥ svit tad adya no brūyād anudeyī yathābhavat || 5 ||
yathābhavad anudeyī tato agram ajāyata |
purastād budhna ātataḥ paścān nirayaṇaṁ kṛtam || 6 ||
idaṁ yamasya sādanaṁ devamānaṁ yad ucyate |
iyam asya dhamyate nāḻīr ayaṁ gīrbhiḥ pariṣkṛtaḥ || 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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