Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda IV.53 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 Savitṛ! The impeller! The golden-handed god! Thou dost set all things in motion. Thy hands are bright as the sun. They grasp the reins of the cosmos and thou dost drive it forward. Nothing escapeth thy power. All motion springeth from thy will.
At dawn thou art awake. Thy hands guide the sun across the sky. The chariot of Sūrya followeth thy command. The heavens bow before thee. The earth obeyeth thee. All creatures move according to thy decree.
Thou impellest us to action. Thou givest us strength to rise and toil. Thou movest the waters. Thou setteth the winds in motion. Thou dost animate all things with thy power. Without thee, the world would be frozen in stillness.
Yet also thou art the god of turning points. When day becomes night, it is thy hand that guideth the transition. When youth becomes age, thou art there. When life becomes death, thy gentle hand conducteth the soul onward. Thou art both the force that driveth forward and the wisdom that knoweth when to rest.
O Savitṛ! We invoke thee at dawn. We call upon thee in the heat of day. We praise thee as the sun descendeth. Grant us the vigor to move forward. Grant us the wisdom to know when to push and when to yield. Let thy golden hands guide us. Let thy power animate our lives. O impeller! O golden-handed one! Accept the soma! Accept our praise!
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.53
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.
tad devasya savitur vāryam mahad vṛṇīmahe asurasya pracetasaḥ |
chardir yena dāśuṣe yacchati tmanā tan no mahām̐ ud ayān devo aktubhiḥ || 1 ||
divo dhartā bhuvanasya prajāpatiḥ piśaṅgaṁ drāpim prati muñcate kaviḥ |
vicakṣaṇaḥ prathayann āpṛṇann urv ajījanat savitā sumnam ukthyam || 2 ||
āprā rajāṁsi divyāni pārthivā ślokaṁ devaḥ kṛṇute svāya dharmaṇe |
pra bāhū asrāk savitā savīmani niveśayan prasuvann aktubhir jagat || 3 ||
adābhyo bhuvanāni pracākaśad vratāni devaḥ savitābhi rakṣate |
prāsrāg bāhū bhuvanasya prajābhyo dhṛtavrato maho ajmasya rājati || 4 ||
trir antarikṣaṁ savitā mahitvanā trī rajāṁsi paribhus trīṇi rocanā |
tisro divaḥ pṛthivīs tisra invati tribhir vratair abhi no rakṣati tmanā || 5 ||
bṛhatsumnaḥ prasavītā niveśano jagataḥ sthātur ubhayasya yo vaśī |
sa no devaḥ savitā śarma yacchatv asme kṣayāya trivarūtham aṁhasaḥ || 6 ||
āgan deva ṛtubhir vardhatu kṣayaṁ dadhātu naḥ savitā suprajām iṣam |
sa naḥ kṣapābhir ahabhiś ca jinvatu prajāvantaṁ rayim asme sam invatu || 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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