Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda V.53 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 5 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.
The wild band rides forth! The untamed Maruts, the unconquerable ones, tear across the sky like a river breaking its banks. Mountains quake at their approach. The clouds split asunder before them. The very air roars with their passage.
Nothing can contain them! They are wild as the wind itself, for they ARE the wind—made manifest, made terrible, made glorious. They shake the mountains from their roots. They shatter the peaks and scatter the stones. They split the clouds as one splits fruit, releasing the waters that have been locked away in the heavens.
Hear their voices! Each Marut shouts with the sound of thunder. Together they roar as a thousand bulls roar, as a thousand lions roar. Their voices crack open the sky. Their voices shake the very pillars upon which the world stands. In their clamor is power unimaginable, energy without bound.
They stride across the earth like giants, each step a mile, each breath a gale. They leap over forests and forests bow before them. They wade through rivers and rivers are driven back. They run swifter than any creature that flies or runs or crawls. No chariot, no horse, no wind can overtake them.
O Maruts, ye wild and unstoppable ones! Ye who know no master save Rudra, your father! Ye who obey no law save that of your own fierce nature! Come now to this altar. Accept the praises of mortals. Show us thy terrible grace. Let thy wildness be turned toward the protection of thy people. Shake the sky for our sake! Split the clouds and bring forth the rain that sustains all life!
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 V.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.
ko veda jānam eṣāṁ ko vā purā sumneṣv āsa marutām |
yad yuyujre kilāsyaḥ || 1 ||
aitān ratheṣu tasthuṣaḥ kaḥ śuśrāva kathā yayuḥ |
kasmai sasruḥ sudāse anv āpaya iḻābhir vṛṣṭayaḥ saha || 2 ||
te ma āhur ya āyayur upa dyubhir vibhir made |
naro maryā arepasa imān paśyann iti ṣṭuhi || 3 ||
ye añjiṣu ye vāśīṣu svabhānavaḥ srakṣu rukmeṣu khādiṣu |
śrāyā ratheṣu dhanvasu || 4 ||
yuṣmākaṁ smā rathām̐ anu mude dadhe maruto jīradānavaḥ |
vṛṣṭī dyāvo yatīr iva || 5 ||
ā yaṁ naraḥ sudānavo dadāśuṣe divaḥ kośam acucyavuḥ |
vi parjanyaṁ sṛjanti rodasī anu dhanvanā yanti vṛṣṭayaḥ || 6 ||
tatṛdānāḥ sindhavaḥ kṣodasā rajaḥ pra sasrur dhenavo yathā |
syannā aśvā ivādhvano vimocane vi yad vartanta enyaḥ || 7 ||
ā yāta maruto diva āntarikṣād amād uta |
māva sthāta parāvataḥ || 8 ||
mā vo rasānitabhā kubhā krumur mā vaḥ sindhur ni rīramat |
mā vaḥ pari ṣṭhāt sarayuḥ purīṣiṇy asme it sumnam astu vaḥ || 9 ||
taṁ vaḥ śardhaṁ rathānāṁ tveṣaṁ gaṇam mārutaṁ navyasīnām |
anu pra yanti vṛṣṭayaḥ || 10 ||
śardhaṁ-śardhaṁ va eṣāṁ vrātaṁ-vrātaṁ gaṇaṁ-gaṇaṁ suśastibhiḥ |
anu krāmema dhītibhiḥ || 11 ||
kasmā adya sujātāya rātahavyāya pra yayuḥ |
enā yāmena marutaḥ || 12 ||
yena tokāya tanayāya dhānya1m bījaṁ vahadhve akṣitam |
asmabhyaṁ tad dhattana yad va īmahe rādho viśvāyu saubhagam || 13 ||
atīyāma nidas tiraḥ svastibhir hitvāvadyam arātīḥ |
vṛṣṭvī śaṁ yor āpa usri bheṣajaṁ syāma marutaḥ saha || 14 ||
sudevaḥ samahāsati suvīro naro marutaḥ sa martyaḥ |
yaṁ trāyadhve syāma te || 15 ||
stuhi bhojān stuvato asya yāmani raṇan gāvo na yavase |
yataḥ pūrvām̐ iva sakhīm̐r anu hvaya girā gṛṇīhi kāminaḥ || 16 ||
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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