A Hymn of Maṇḍala 2
Rigveda II.20 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 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.
Thou art he who didst prop the heavens apart from the earth. In the beginning, when all things were dark and mingled together, thou didst thrust them asunder. Thy mighty hands—hands strong as the mountains—didst push the sky upward until it arched above all creation.
The earth lay beneath, firm and solid. The heavens rose above, bright with stars and shining with the celestial light. Between them rushed the winds; through them flowed the waters. All was set in order by thy cosmic work.
Thou didst support the sky upon invisible pillars. It doth not fall, for thy strength holdeth it. Thou didst make the earth immovable and sure. It doth not shake, for thy will maintaineth it. Without thee, the cosmos would collapse into chaos. Without thy eternal strength, the very fabric of existence would unravel.
Vast are thy cosmic deeds, O mighty one! Thy works transcend all mortal comprehension. We cannot fathom the magnitude of what thou hast accomplished. We cannot measure the depths of thy power. We can only stand in awe before thee and sing thy praise.
And yet—this work of thine, this propping apart of heaven and earth, is matched by thy deeds in battle. Just as thou hast ordered the cosmos, so too dost thou order the affairs of mortals, crushing demons and elevating the righteous.
We beseech thee: let thy cosmic strength flow through us as well. Give us the power to stand firm in our own struggles. Grant us the ability to order our affairs rightly, as thou hast ordered all creation. Let thy mighty hand rest upon us in blessing and protection.
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 II.20
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.
vayaṁ te vaya indra viddhi ṣu ṇaḥ pra bharāmahe vājayur na ratham |
vipanyavo dīdhyato manīṣā sumnam iyakṣantas tvāvato nṝn || 1 ||
tvaṁ na indra tvābhir ūtī tvāyato abhiṣṭipāsi janān |
tvam ino dāśuṣo varūtetthādhīr abhi yo nakṣati tvā || 2 ||
sa no yuvendro johūtraḥ sakhā śivo narām astu pātā |
yaḥ śaṁsantaṁ yaḥ śaśamānam ūtī pacantaṁ ca stuvantaṁ ca praṇeṣat || 3 ||
tam u stuṣa indraṁ taṁ gṛṇīṣe yasmin purā vāvṛdhuḥ śāśaduś ca |
sa vasvaḥ kāmam pīparad iyāno brahmaṇyato nūtanasyāyoḥ || 4 ||
so aṅgirasām ucathā jujuṣvān brahmā tūtod indro gātum iṣṇan |
muṣṇann uṣasaḥ sūryeṇa stavān aśnasya cic chiśnathat pūrvyāṇi || 5 ||
sa ha śruta indro nāma deva ūrdhvo bhuvan manuṣe dasmatamaḥ |
ava priyam arśasānasya sāhvāñ chiro bharad dāsasya svadhāvān || 6 ||
sa vṛtrahendraḥ kṛṣṇayonīḥ puraṁdaro dāsīr airayad vi |
ajanayan manave kṣām apaś ca satrā śaṁsaṁ yajamānasya tūtot || 7 ||
tasmai tavasya1m anu dāyi satrendrāya devebhir arṇasātau |
prati yad asya vajram bāhvor dhur hatvī dasyūn pura āyasīr ni tārīt || 8 ||
nūnaṁ sā te prati varaṁ jaritre duhīyad indra dakṣiṇā maghonī |
śikṣā stotṛbhyo māti dhag bhago no bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 9 ||
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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