Hymn to Uṣas
Rigveda IV.51 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.
O Uṣas! Dawn-goddess! Thou radiant one! Thou dost break forth from the darkness with thy crimson chariot. Gold and scarlet stream across the eastern sky. Thou art clothed in light. Thy beauty is terrible and magnificent.
Night hath fled before thee. The stars withdraw. The darkness scattereth like smoke. Thou ridest forth upon thy chariot, adorned with gold and precious stones. Thy horses leap forward with eager hooves. All the world awaketh at thy coming.
Thou art the herald of the sun. Thou preparest the way for Sūrya the golden one. Thy light faileth not. Every day thou comest forth, ever fresh, ever radiant, ever new. The creatures of darkness cower before thee. The birds cry out their joy at thy approach.
O Uṣas! Thou art the mother of all days! Each dawn thou art born anew. Each morning thou renewest the world. Thou bringest hope to the weary. Thou shinest upon the righteous and the wicked alike. Thy impartiality is absolute. Thy beauty is without peer.
We honor thee, O goddess! We greet thee with uplifted hands. We pour the soma before thee. We sing thy praises. Grant us the courage to face the day. Grant us the wisdom to use the hours thou givest us. Let thy light chase away the shadows of our hearts. O Uṣas! O dawn-goddess! Be merciful unto us. Lead us toward the light. Bless us as thou passest overhead!
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.51
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.
idam u tyat purutamam purastāj jyotis tamaso vayunāvad asthāt |
nūnaṁ divo duhitaro vibhātīr gātuṁ kṛṇavann uṣaso janāya || 1 ||
asthur u citrā uṣasaḥ purastān mitā iva svaravo 'dhvareṣu |
vy ū vrajasya tamaso dvārocchantīr avrañ chucayaḥ pāvakāḥ || 2 ||
ucchantīr adya citayanta bhojān rādhodeyāyoṣaso maghonīḥ |
acitre antaḥ paṇayaḥ sasantv abudhyamānās tamaso vimadhye || 3 ||
kuvit sa devīḥ sanayo navo vā yāmo babhūyād uṣaso vo adya |
yenā navagve aṅgire daśagve saptāsye revatī revad ūṣa || 4 ||
yūyaṁ hi devīr ṛtayugbhir aśvaiḥ pariprayātha bhuvanāni sadyaḥ |
prabodhayantīr uṣasaḥ sasantaṁ dvipāc catuṣpāc carathāya jīvam || 5 ||
kva svid āsāṁ katamā purāṇī yayā vidhānā vidadhur ṛbhūṇām |
śubhaṁ yac chubhrā uṣasaś caranti na vi jñāyante sadṛśīr ajuryāḥ || 6 ||
tā ghā tā bhadrā uṣasaḥ purāsur abhiṣṭidyumnā ṛtajātasatyāḥ |
yāsv ījānaḥ śaśamāna ukthaiḥ stuvañ chaṁsan draviṇaṁ sadya āpa || 7 ||
tā ā caranti samanā purastāt samānataḥ samanā paprathānāḥ |
ṛtasya devīḥ sadaso budhānā gavāṁ na sargā uṣaso jarante || 8 ||
tā in nv e3va samanā samānīr amītavarṇā uṣasaś caranti |
gūhantīr abhvam asitaṁ ruśadbhiḥ śukrās tanūbhiḥ śucayo rucānāḥ || 9 ||
rayiṁ divo duhitaro vibhātīḥ prajāvantaṁ yacchatāsmāsu devīḥ |
syonād ā vaḥ pratibudhyamānāḥ suvīryasya patayaḥ syāma || 10 ||
tad vo divo duhitaro vibhātīr upa bruva uṣaso yajñaketuḥ |
vayaṁ syāma yaśaso janeṣu tad dyauś ca dhattām pṛthivī ca devī || 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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