Hymn to Vāc
Rigveda X.71 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.
O Br̥haspati, this was the first birthing of Speech—when the seers came forth and gave name unto all things.
What was their fairest, what was without spot—that name, kept hid in hush, was shown to them for the love thou bearedst.
When the wise shaped Speech from the forge of their thought, sifting her as grain through a sieve, therein they found their fellowship, each known to each. Their goodly mark was laid upon her.
By the rite they traced the path of Speech; they found her lodged within the seers.
And having drawn her forth, they sent her wide, to many dwellings. The seven deep-voiced singers cry her aloud.
Yet many a soul, though seeing, hath not seen her; and many, though hearing, have not heard.
But to another she yieldeth herself wholly, like a bride, fair and eager, to her lord.
And some are bloated with their own company, puffed in vain; to such, none giveth goad in the strife.
He walketh with guile, not the kine of truth, for he hath heard Speech and gathered no fruit nor bloom.
He who forsaketh his fellow in the knowing way—Speech hath no portion in him.
Though he heareth, he heareth amiss, for he kenneth not the track of the rightly wrought offering.
Though all have eyes and ears, yet are the fellows not alike in the swiftness of mind.
Some stand as pools that reach but the lips or the arm’s crook, and others as lakes meet for bathing.
When the mind’s swiftness, shaped in the heart, stirreth brahmins to rite as one, then do they outpace some by the paths of knowing, while others roam far, with praises and spells.
They who move not nigh nor afar, nor are brahmins, nor press the soma— they, fallen awry upon Speech, do but stretch watery threads for warp, bringing forth no fruit.
But all his kin rejoice in the one who cometh clad in glory, a mighty one in the moot, for he saveth them from their missings, and gaineth meat for them—he is meetly roused for the contest.
One sitteth, blooming the bloom of the verse; another chanteth the song in the lay of Śakvarī.
This one, the speaker of lore, letteth forth the birth of his wisdom; that one measureth the rite’s full span.
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.71
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.
bṛhaspate prathamaṁ vāco agraṁ yat prairata nāmadheyaṁ dadhānāḥ |
yad eṣāṁ śreṣṭhaṁ yad aripram āsīt preṇā tad eṣāṁ nihitaṁ guhāviḥ || 1 ||
saktum iva titaünā punanto yatra dhīrā manasā vācam akrata |
atrā sakhāyaḥ sakhyāni jānate bhadraiṣāṁ lakṣmīr nihitādhi vāci || 2 ||
yajñena vācaḥ padavīyam āyan tām anv avindann ṛṣiṣu praviṣṭām |
tām ābhṛtyā vy adadhuḥ purutrā tāṁ sapta rebhā abhi saṁ navante || 3 ||
uta tvaḥ paśyan na dadarśa vācam uta tvaḥ śṛṇvan na śṛṇoty enām |
uto tvasmai tanva1ṁ vi sasre jāyeva patya uśatī suvāsāḥ || 4 ||
uta tvaṁ sakhye sthirapītam āhur nainaṁ hinvanty api vājineṣu |
adhenvā carati māyayaiṣa vācaṁ śuśruvām̐ aphalām apuṣpām || 5 ||
yas tityāja sacividaṁ sakhāyaṁ na tasya vācy api bhāgo asti |
yad īṁ śṛṇoty alakaṁ śṛṇoti nahi praveda sukṛtasya panthām || 6 ||
akṣaṇvantaḥ karṇavantaḥ sakhāyo manojaveṣv asamā babhūvuḥ |
ādaghnāsa upakakṣāsa u tve hradā iva snātvā u tve dadṛśre || 7 ||
hṛdā taṣṭeṣu manaso javeṣu yad brāhmaṇāḥ saṁyajante sakhāyaḥ |
atrāha tvaṁ vi jahur vedyābhir ohabrahmāṇo vi caranty u tve || 8 ||
ime ye nārvāṅ na paraś caranti na brāhmaṇāso na sutekarāsaḥ |
ta ete vācam abhipadya pāpayā sirīs tantraṁ tanvate aprajajñayaḥ || 9 ||
sarve nandanti yaśasāgatena sabhāsāhena sakhyā sakhāyaḥ |
kilbiṣaspṛt pituṣaṇir hy eṣām araṁ hito bhavati vājināya || 10 ||
ṛcāṁ tvaḥ poṣam āste pupuṣvān gāyatraṁ tvo gāyati śakvarīṣu |
brahmā tvo vadati jātavidyāṁ yajñasya mātrāṁ vi mimīta u tvaḥ || 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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