Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda X.147 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.
I place my trust in thy foremost wrath of war— for thou didst shatter Vṛtra and toil at the work of men; for unto thee the twin world-halves do bow, and even Earth doth quake beneath thy storm,
O thou that wieldest the stone.
Thou, spotless one, with cunning didst unmake the cunning foe, and broke him in thy fame-seeking might.
The noble turn to thee in their striving for kine, to thee, when the time of the offering draweth nigh.
Take thy joy in these givers, thou oft-called and mighty, these who have won thy favor and grown strong by thy gift.
They sing to thee, the taker of spoils,
when kindred stand in peril, in the ring of foes,
at the winning of wisdom, when high stakes lie upon the field.
That man shall find joy in gain, whose burden is light to bear,
who knoweth that thy rapture must be stirred.
With thee as his strength, O giver of plenty, he who keepeth the holy rite swiftly carrieth off the prize and the spoil, his band beside him.
Thou, being sung, dost widen the way for thy folk in thy greatness, O bounteous one—show forth thy rule over riches.
Thou art to us a friend, as crafty as Varuṇa, a sharer of goods as one who dealeth bread— a marvel thou art.
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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda X.147
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.
śrat te dadhāmi prathamāya manyave 'han yad vṛtraṁ naryaṁ viver apaḥ |
ubhe yat tvā bhavato rodasī anu rejate śuṣmāt pṛthivī cid adrivaḥ || 1 ||
tvam māyābhir anavadya māyinaṁ śravasyatā manasā vṛtram ardayaḥ |
tvām in naro vṛṇate gaviṣṭiṣu tvāṁ viśvāsu havyāsv iṣṭiṣu || 2 ||
aiṣu cākandhi puruhūta sūriṣu vṛdhāso ye maghavann ānaśur magham |
arcanti toke tanaye pariṣṭiṣu medhasātā vājinam ahraye dhane || 3 ||
sa in nu rāyaḥ subhṛtasya cākanan madaṁ yo asya raṁhyaṁ ciketati |
tvāvṛdho maghavan dāśvadhvaro makṣū sa vājam bharate dhanā nṛbhiḥ || 4 ||
tvaṁ śardhāya mahinā gṛṇāna uru kṛdhi maghavañ chagdhi rāyaḥ |
tvaṁ no mitro varuṇo na māyī pitvo na dasma dayase vibhaktā || 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).
🌲