A Hymn of Maṇḍala 10
Rigveda X.95 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.
Purūravas lamenteth:
Alas, my wife! Stay thy steps, O dread woman—tarry but a while, That we may yet trade words before all is lost.
For these thoughts, left unsaid, shall not gladden us, No, not even in days far hence.
Urvaśī answereth:
And what wouldst thou have me do with thy speech?
I have gone forth, as the foremost light of dawn.
Return thee, Purūravas, unto thy house again.
I am as hard to grasp as the wind.
Purūravas crieth out:
She is as an arrow loosed from Beauty’s quiver, Winning kine with her flight, bringing in hundreds.
Under no man’s will shall she be tamed—
She flasheth like lightning, and her storm-borne cries Ring out like a lamb’s bleating.
She gave strength, aye, a good gift,
To her father-by-law, at each dawning, as he desired it, From the house across the way.
She found a dwelling she loved.
Day and night, she was pierced by my rod.
Urvaśī rebuketh:
Thrice a day thou didst pierce me so—
And raised thy rod, though I sought it not.
I followed thy will, Purūravas.
Thou wast king of my flesh—thou, so-called hero.
Purūravas declaimeth:
The shining band of heaven’s dames, favored and fair, Twined like lotuses afloat—ever shifting—
They streamed as salves of red,
And like kine of milk they bellowed for beauty.
Urvaśī recalleth:
When this son of ours was born,
Women stood round, and rivers, murmuring low, Poured strength into him.
As for great battle, for the smiting of Dasyus, The gods girded thee, Purūravas, with might.
Purūravas mourneth:
When I, a man, came nigh those unearthly women, And saw them cast off their robes—
They shrank from me like shy deer,
Like steeds brushing the yoke of the chariot.
Urvaśī remarketh:
When a mortal would fondle the deathless maidens, And moves amidst their cries, thinking it welcome—
They preen like ducks, and dart like playful colts, Nipping and fleet.
Purūravas reflecteth:
She who fled like lightning in the storm— That watery nymph who gave me delight— From her was born a son, noble of blood, Springing from the water.
Urvaśī giveth unto Āyu a long span of years.
Urvaśī chasteneth:
To shield and guard wast thou born—yet thou hast wielded force against me, Purūravas.
I gave thee counsel on that day, full knowing, Yet thou wouldst not heed me.
Why speak still, when thy words yield no gain?
Purūravas yearneth:
When shall my son, my own, seek out his sire?
When shall he weep a tear, rolling like a wheel, And know his father?
What sunders a pair knit in soul,
While yet the hearth-fire burneth in the home of the elders?
Urvaśī relenteth not:
I shall answer him when his tear rolleth down.
He shall wail like a wheel for gentle care.
That thing of thine, which is with us,
I shall send unto thee.
But go—go thee hence—
For thou shalt not win me, thou fool.
Purūravas despairing:
And if she—favored of the gods—should fly away this day, To return nevermore, gone to the farthest bounds...
Then let him lie in the lap of Undoing—
Or be devoured by the hungry wolves...
Urvaśī speaketh bitterly:
O Purūravas, die not. Flee not to death.
Let not the wolves, ruthless, devour thee.
There is no true bonding with women—
Their hearts are as hyenas’.
When I wandered in another form ‘mongst mortal men, And shared their nights four autumns long,
I took but one drop of ghee each day—
And that alone hath left me filled even now.
Purūravas pleadeth:
She who filleth the space ‘twixt heaven and earth, The measurer of the twilight realm—Urvaśī—
I, best among men, would bring her under my sway.
If kindness bringeth reward, then turn thee back— My heart is burnt within me.
Thus the gods speak unto thee, Purūravas— For thus hath it fallen:
Thou art bound to death.
Thy son shall offer to the gods their due, And thou, likewise, shalt find joy in heaven.
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.95
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.
haye jāye manasā tiṣṭha ghore vacāṁsi miśrā kṛṇavāvahai nu |
na nau mantrā anuditāsa ete mayas karan paratare canāhan || 1 ||
kim etā vācā kṛṇavā tavāham prākramiṣam uṣasām agriyeva |
purūravaḥ punar astam parehi durāpanā vāta ivāham asmi || 2 ||
iṣur na śriya iṣudher asanā goṣāḥ śatasā na raṁhiḥ |
avīre kratau vi davidyutan norā na māyuṁ citayanta dhunayaḥ || 3 ||
sā vasu dadhatī śvaśurāya vaya uṣo yadi vaṣṭy antigṛhāt |
astaṁ nanakṣe yasmiñ cākan divā naktaṁ śnathitā vaitasena || 4 ||
triḥ sma māhnaḥ śnathayo vaitasenota sma me 'vyatyai pṛṇāsi |
purūravo 'nu te ketam āyaṁ rājā me vīra tanva1s tad āsīḥ || 5 ||
yā sujūrṇiḥ śreṇiḥ sumnaāpir hradecakṣur na granthinī caraṇyuḥ |
tā añjayo 'ruṇayo na sasruḥ śriye gāvo na dhenavo 'navanta || 6 ||
sam asmiñ jāyamāna āsata gnā utem avardhan nadya1ḥ svagūrtāḥ |
mahe yat tvā purūravo raṇāyāvardhayan dasyuhatyāya devāḥ || 7 ||
sacā yad āsu jahatīṣv atkam amānuṣīṣu mānuṣo niṣeve |
apa sma mat tarasantī na bhujyus tā atrasan rathaspṛśo nāśvāḥ || 8 ||
yad āsu marto amṛtāsu nispṛk saṁ kṣoṇībhiḥ kratubhir na pṛṅkte |
tā ātayo na tanvaḥ śumbhata svā aśvāso na krīḻayo dandaśānāḥ || 9 ||
vidyun na yā patantī davidyod bharantī me apyā kāmyāni |
janiṣṭo apo naryaḥ sujātaḥ prorvaśī tirata dīrgham āyuḥ || 10 ||
jajñiṣa itthā gopīthyāya hi dadhātha tat purūravo ma ojaḥ |
aśāsaṁ tvā viduṣī sasminn ahan na ma āśṛṇoḥ kim abhug vadāsi || 11 ||
kadā sūnuḥ pitaraṁ jāta icchāc cakran nāśru vartayad vijānan |
ko dampatī samanasā vi yūyod adha yad agniḥ śvaśureṣu dīdayat || 12 ||
prati bravāṇi vartayate aśru cakran na krandad ādhye śivāyai |
pra tat te hinavā yat te asme parehy astaṁ nahi mūra māpaḥ || 13 ||
sudevo adya prapated anāvṛt parāvatam paramāṁ gantavā u |
adhā śayīta nirṛter upasthe 'dhainaṁ vṛkā rabhasāso adyuḥ || 14 ||
purūravo mā mṛthā mā pra papto mā tvā vṛkāso aśivāsa u kṣan |
na vai straiṇāni sakhyāni santi sālāvṛkāṇāṁ hṛdayāny etā || 15 ||
yad virūpācaram martyeṣv avasaṁ rātrīḥ śaradaś catasraḥ |
ghṛtasya stokaṁ sakṛd ahna āśnāṁ tād evedaṁ tātṛpāṇā carāmi || 16 ||
antarikṣaprāṁ rajaso vimānīm upa śikṣāmy urvaśīṁ vasiṣṭhaḥ |
upa tvā rātiḥ sukṛtasya tiṣṭhān ni vartasva hṛdayaṁ tapyate me || 17 ||
iti tvā devā ima āhur aiḻa yathem etad bhavasi mṛtyubandhuḥ |
prajā te devān haviṣā yajāti svarga u tvam api mādayāse || 18 ||
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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