Hymn to the Aśvins
Rigveda IV.43 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 4 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.
When the dawn breaketh over the mountains and the first light of day spreadeth across the sky, we turn our faces eastward and call out to the Aśvins, the divine twins, the healers most blessed! Already they come, with the approach of morning itself, drawn by the hymns of those who have kept vigil through the night.
The Aśvins are the children of the sun and of the ocean, born at the boundary between night and day, where all boundaries grow thin and all transformations are possible. They are youth itself incarnate, unmarred by age, unmarred by suffering. Their beauty is as the beauty of the morning star; their radiance is as the radiance of the new-risen sun.
With them come their miraculous powers, their ability to heal and to restore that which was broken or lost. When the warrior falleth wounded upon the field, when sickness layeth its hand upon the mortal frame, when hope seemeth to flee and death draweth near — then do the Aśvins come swiftly in their golden chariot, drawn by birds and horses, and they touch the sufferer with hands that know no mercy but only perfect healing.
They are the physicians of the gods and of men. No ailment is beyond their remedy; no damage is permanent in their sight. They have made the blind to see again; they have given the lame the power to walk; they have restored the aged to the vigour of youth. They do not ask payment; they do not demand sacrifice. They come simply because they are invoked, because the sincere cry of the suffering calleth to them across all the distances of earth and sky.
Yet they are not merely healers. They are also the guardians of justice, the protectors of those who invoke them with righteous hearts. When the noble warrior rideth forth into danger, the Aśvins ride beside him. When the orphan crieth out for aid, the Aśvins hear and come swiftly. They are the proof that the devas do not abandon the righteous, that mercy and aid are forever available to those who call.
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 IV.43
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.
ka u śravat katamo yajñiyānāṁ vandāru devaḥ katamo juṣāte |
kasyemāṁ devīm amṛteṣu preṣṭhāṁ hṛdi śreṣāma suṣṭutiṁ suhavyām || 1 ||
ko mṛḻāti katama āgamiṣṭho devānām u katamaḥ śambhaviṣṭhaḥ |
rathaṁ kam āhur dravadaśvam āśuṁ yaṁ sūryasya duhitāvṛṇīta || 2 ||
makṣū hi ṣmā gacchatha īvato dyūn indro na śaktim paritakmyāyām |
diva ājātā divyā suparṇā kayā śacīnām bhavathaḥ śaciṣṭhā || 3 ||
kā vām bhūd upamātiḥ kayā na āśvinā gamatho hūyamānā |
ko vām mahaś cit tyajaso abhīka uruṣyatam mādhvī dasrā na ūtī || 4 ||
uru vāṁ rathaḥ pari nakṣati dyām ā yat samudrād abhi vartate vām |
madhvā mādhvī madhu vām pruṣāyan yat sīṁ vām pṛkṣo bhurajanta pakvāḥ || 5 ||
sindhur ha vāṁ rasayā siñcad aśvān ghṛṇā vayo 'ruṣāsaḥ pari gman |
tad ū ṣu vām ajiraṁ ceti yānaṁ yena patī bhavathaḥ sūryāyāḥ || 6 ||
iheha yad vāṁ samanā papṛkṣe seyam asme sumatir vājaratnā |
uruṣyataṁ jaritāraṁ yuvaṁ ha śritaḥ kāmo nāsatyā yuvadrik || 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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