A Hymn of Maṇḍala 10
Rigveda X.56 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.
Here is one light of thine, and yonder afar another; fuse thou with the third flame.
In the mingling of thy flesh, become thou beloved—dear unto the gods— at this highest path of bringing-forth.
Let thy frame, O thou that gainest the prize— guiding the flesh, raise up a treasure for our sake, and warding for thyself.
Be steadfast, that thou may’st uphold the lofty gods; and yield thy light as if in trade for Heaven’s own shining.
Thou art the winner, with spirit full of might.
Well hast thou fared to the fair dawns, keen-footed on the trail, well hast thou fared to the song, well to the heights above,
well according to the first and truest grounds, well to the gods, well along thy flight.
E’en the elders of old are not lords of their own vastness; the gods laid their mind’s fire amid their host, and they wrapped themselves in all that stirred and swayed— then entered once more their very forms.
With strength they strode through all the sky’s wide breadth, measuring the ageless bounds that none may reckon.
All breathing flesh is bound within its shape, yet through their seed have they stretched forth manifold.
The sons raise up their father as one who seeketh the sun in twainwise ways, and by a third deed besides.
Their fathers of old set their sons as their might— a thread well-stretched through the sons of afterdays.
As in a boat o’er swelling tide, across all ways of earth, beyond the rugged paths with blessing borne,
Br̥haduktha by his greatness hath set his seed both among the late-born and the first.
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.56
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.
idaṁ ta ekam para ū ta ekaṁ tṛtīyena jyotiṣā saṁ viśasva |
saṁveśane tanva1ś cārur edhi priyo devānām parame janitre || 1 ||
tanūṣ ṭe vājin tanva1ṁ nayantī vāmam asmabhyaṁ dhātu śarma tubhyam |
ahruto maho dharuṇāya devān divīva jyotiḥ svam ā mimīyāḥ || 2 ||
vājy asi vājinenā suvenīḥ suvitaḥ stomaṁ suvito divaṁ gāḥ |
suvito dharma prathamānu satyā suvito devān suvito 'nu patma || 3 ||
mahimna eṣām pitaraś caneśire devā deveṣv adadhur api kratum |
sam avivyacur uta yāny atviṣur aiṣāṁ tanūṣu ni viviśuḥ punaḥ || 4 ||
sahobhir viśvam pari cakramū rajaḥ pūrvā dhāmāny amitā mimānāḥ |
tanūṣu viśvā bhuvanā ni yemire prāsārayanta purudha prajā anu || 5 ||
dvidhā sūnavo 'suraṁ svarvidam āsthāpayanta tṛtīyena karmaṇā |
svām prajām pitaraḥ pitryaṁ saha āvareṣv adadhus tantum ātatam || 6 ||
nāvā na kṣodaḥ pradiśaḥ pṛthivyāḥ svastibhir ati durgāṇi viśvā |
svām prajām bṛhaduktho mahitvāvareṣv adadhād ā pareṣu || 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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