Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda II.34 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.
Hark! The Maruts! The storm gods come forth, roaring, thundering, shaking the vault of heaven! Sons of Rudra they are, wild and untamed, borne upon the wind, armed with lightning and hail. How many are they? Who can number them? They swarm like locusts across the sky, their voices raised in terrible unison.
Come, O ye Maruts, with thy healing powers! Come, ye storm-dancers, ye wind-riders, ye singers of thunder! Thy approach maketh the mountains tremble. The earth trembles beneath thy passage. The waters rise in fear and adoration.
O golden-bright Maruts, shine upon us! O spear-armed warriors of the wind, grant us victory over our enemies. Let thy arrows fly upon those who hate us. Let thy tempests blow away the evil ones who plot against us in darkness. Yet spare the innocent and the righteous.
We hear thee in the roaring of the wind. We see thee in the flash of lightning. We feel thee in the cold kiss of the storm-wind. Thou art present in the breaking of the drought, in the rains that feed the growing grain. Without thee, the earth would parch and die. Without thy fury, the world would stagnate.
Come swift upon thy courses, ye Maruts! Bring abundance to our fields. Bring strength to our warriors. Bring health to our people. We praise thee with loud voices. We raise our arms to thee in supplication and in joy. Ye are terrible and beautiful both. Ye are the necessary storm, the cleansing flood, the wind that brings renewal to all things.
Hear us, O Maruts! Accept our Soma-offerings. Bless us with thy wild, untamed grace. Make us strong as the storm. Make us fierce as the wind. Make us ever joyful in thy terrible presence.
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.34
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.
dhārāvarā maruto dhṛṣṇvojaso mṛgā na bhīmās taviṣībhir arcinaḥ |
agnayo na śuśucānā ṛjīṣiṇo bhṛmiṁ dhamanto apa gā avṛṇvata || 1 ||
dyāvo na stṛbhiś citayanta khādino vy a1bhriyā na dyutayanta vṛṣṭayaḥ |
rudro yad vo maruto rukmavakṣaso vṛṣājani pṛśnyāḥ śukra ūdhani || 2 ||
ukṣante aśvām̐ atyām̐ ivājiṣu nadasya karṇais turayanta āśubhiḥ |
hiraṇyaśiprā maruto davidhvataḥ pṛkṣaṁ yātha pṛṣatībhiḥ samanyavaḥ || 3 ||
pṛkṣe tā viśvā bhuvanā vavakṣire mitrāya vā sadam ā jīradānavaḥ |
pṛṣadaśvāso anavabhrarādhasa ṛjipyāso na vayuneṣu dhūrṣadaḥ || 4 ||
indhanvabhir dhenubhī rapśadūdhabhir adhvasmabhiḥ pathibhir bhrājadṛṣṭayaḥ |
ā haṁsāso na svasarāṇi gantana madhor madāya marutaḥ samanyavaḥ || 5 ||
ā no brahmāṇi marutaḥ samanyavo narāṁ na śaṁsaḥ savanāni gantana |
aśvām iva pipyata dhenum ūdhani kartā dhiyaṁ jaritre vājapeśasam || 6 ||
taṁ no dāta maruto vājinaṁ ratha āpānam brahma citayad dive-dive |
iṣaṁ stotṛbhyo vṛjaneṣu kārave sanim medhām ariṣṭaṁ duṣṭaraṁ sahaḥ || 7 ||
yad yuñjate maruto rukmavakṣaso 'śvān ratheṣu bhaga ā sudānavaḥ |
dhenur na śiśve svasareṣu pinvate janāya rātahaviṣe mahīm iṣam || 8 ||
yo no maruto vṛkatāti martyo ripur dadhe vasavo rakṣatā riṣaḥ |
vartayata tapuṣā cakriyābhi tam ava rudrā aśaso hantanā vadhaḥ || 9 ||
citraṁ tad vo maruto yāma cekite pṛśnyā yad ūdhar apy āpayo duhuḥ |
yad vā nide navamānasya rudriyās tritaṁ jarāya juratām adābhyāḥ || 10 ||
tān vo maho maruta evayāvno viṣṇor eṣasya prabhṛthe havāmahe |
hiraṇyavarṇān kakuhān yatasruco brahmaṇyantaḥ śaṁsyaṁ rādha īmahe || 11 ||
te daśagvāḥ prathamā yajñam ūhire te no hinvantūṣaso vyuṣṭiṣu |
uṣā na rāmīr aruṇair aporṇute maho jyotiṣā śucatā goarṇasā || 12 ||
te kṣoṇībhir aruṇebhir nāñjibhī rudrā ṛtasya sadaneṣu vāvṛdhuḥ |
nimeghamānā atyena pājasā suścandraṁ varṇaṁ dadhire supeśasam || 13 ||
tām̐ iyāno mahi varūtham ūtaya upa ghed enā namasā gṛṇīmasi |
trito na yān pañca hotṝn abhiṣṭaya āvavartad avarāñ cakriyāvase || 14 ||
yayā radhram pārayathāty aṁho yayā nido muñcatha vanditāram |
arvācī sā maruto yā va ūtir o ṣu vāśreva sumatir jigātu || 15 ||
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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