A Hymn of Maṇḍala 4
Rigveda IV.58 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 Ghṛta! Clarified butter! Golden flow of sacred richness! Thou art the link between earth and heaven. Thy flames feed the fire. Thy essence riseth up to the gods. Without thee, the sacrifice cannot proceed. Without thee, the prayer cannot reach the divine.
The cows giveth thee forth. The milk floweth white and pure. Through heat and care, the milk is transformed. The water evaporateth. The fat riseth, golden and clear. Thou art the precious essence, distilled through patience and devotion.
We pour thee upon the fire and thou risest as smoke, carrying our words to the gods. Thy fragrance ascendeth to heaven. The divine ones smell thy sweetness and are pleased. Thou art the messenger between mortals and immortals. Thou art the voice of our sacrifice made manifest.
From the sacred cow thou comest. From the earth's abundance. Thou art the fruit of labor and care. Thou art nourishment. Thou art the fuel of the holy fire. Thou art the substance that transformeth the world.
O Ghṛta! We honor thee. We pour thee with reverence upon the flames. We know that in thy golden stream flow all the blessings of the cosmos. As thou floweth into the fire, so floweth our devotion to the divine. Accept our offering! Carry our prayers upward! Let thy essence reach the gods and let them smile upon us. O clarified butter! O liquid gold! O sacred flow! Bless us through thy power!
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.58
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.
samudrād ūrmir madhumām̐ ud ārad upāṁśunā sam amṛtatvam ānaṭ |
ghṛtasya nāma guhyaṁ yad asti jihvā devānām amṛtasya nābhiḥ || 1 ||
vayaṁ nāma pra bravāmā ghṛtasyāsmin yajñe dhārayāmā namobhiḥ |
upa brahmā śṛṇavac chasyamānaṁ catuḥśṛṅgo 'vamīd gaura etat || 2 ||
catvāri śṛṅgā trayo asya pādā dve śīrṣe sapta hastāso asya |
tridhā baddho vṛṣabho roravīti maho devo martyām̐ ā viveśa || 3 ||
tridhā hitam paṇibhir guhyamānaṁ gavi devāso ghṛtam anv avindan |
indra ekaṁ sūrya ekaṁ jajāna venād ekaṁ svadhayā niṣ ṭatakṣuḥ || 4 ||
etā arṣanti hṛdyāt samudrāc chatavrajā ripuṇā nāvacakṣe |
ghṛtasya dhārā abhi cākaśīmi hiraṇyayo vetaso madhya āsām || 5 ||
samyak sravanti sarito na dhenā antar hṛdā manasā pūyamānāḥ |
ete arṣanty ūrmayo ghṛtasya mṛgā iva kṣipaṇor īṣamāṇāḥ || 6 ||
sindhor iva prādhvane śūghanāso vātapramiyaḥ patayanti yahvāḥ |
ghṛtasya dhārā aruṣo na vājī kāṣṭhā bhindann ūrmibhiḥ pinvamānaḥ || 7 ||
abhi pravanta samaneva yoṣāḥ kalyāṇya1ḥ smayamānāso agnim |
ghṛtasya dhārāḥ samidho nasanta tā juṣāṇo haryati jātavedāḥ || 8 ||
kanyā iva vahatum etavā u añjy añjānā abhi cākaśīmi |
yatra somaḥ sūyate yatra yajño ghṛtasya dhārā abhi tat pavante || 9 ||
abhy arṣata suṣṭutiṁ gavyam ājim asmāsu bhadrā draviṇāni dhatta |
imaṁ yajñaṁ nayata devatā no ghṛtasya dhārā madhumat pavante || 10 ||
dhāman te viśvam bhuvanam adhi śritam antaḥ samudre hṛdy a1ntar āyuṣi |
apām anīke samithe ya ābhṛtas tam aśyāma madhumantaṁ ta ūrmim || 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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