Hymn to the Maruts
Rigveda V.56 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 Maruts shine with their own light! They are self-luminous, burning with an inner fire that no darkness can extinguish. Each Marut blazes like a star fallen from heaven, trailing light across the sky. They are beautiful in their terrible beauty, perfect in their pristine strength.
Their eyes see all that is hidden. Their ears hear all that is spoken and unspoken. Their minds grasp the mysteries that mortals cannot comprehend. They are wise as the ancient ones are wise, yet young and fierce and vital. They do not age. They do not weaken. They are eternal in their youthful vigor.
See the radiance that surrounds them! It is like the radiance of the sun, yet not the sun's radiance. It is an inner glow, a luminescence born of their own divine nature. This light reveals truth. This light dispels illusion. In the presence of the Maruts, all falseness is exposed and all truth is made manifest.
Yet this beauty is terrible! For in their luminescence burns a consuming fire. They burn away all that is impure, all that is false, all that is unworthy. Their light is the light of judgment and of truth. To stand in their presence is to stand naked before the ultimate reality of things.
O Maruts, ye self-luminous ones! Ye who shine without flame, who glow without burning, whose inner radiance exceeds the radiance of ten thousand suns! Let thy light penetrate the darkness of our ignorance. Burn away our impurity. Reveal to us the truth that lies hidden. Grant us to see as thou seest, to know as thou knowest. O terrible and beautiful ones, shine upon us and transform us!
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.56
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.
agne śardhantam ā gaṇam piṣṭaṁ rukmebhir añjibhiḥ |
viśo adya marutām ava hvaye divaś cid rocanād adhi || 1 ||
yathā cin manyase hṛdā tad in me jagmur āśasaḥ |
ye te nediṣṭhaṁ havanāny āgaman tān vardha bhīmasaṁdṛśaḥ || 2 ||
mīḻhuṣmatīva pṛthivī parāhatā madanty ety asmad ā |
ṛkṣo na vo marutaḥ śimīvām̐ amo dudhro gaur iva bhīmayuḥ || 3 ||
ni ye riṇanty ojasā vṛthā gāvo na durdhuraḥ |
aśmānaṁ cit svarya1m parvataṁ girim pra cyāvayanti yāmabhiḥ || 4 ||
ut tiṣṭha nūnam eṣāṁ stomaiḥ samukṣitānām |
marutām purutamam apūrvyaṁ gavāṁ sargam iva hvaye || 5 ||
yuṅgdhvaṁ hy aruṣī rathe yuṅgdhvaṁ ratheṣu rohitaḥ |
yuṅgdhvaṁ harī ajirā dhuri voḻhave vahiṣṭhā dhuri voḻhave || 6 ||
uta sya vājy aruṣas tuviṣvaṇir iha sma dhāyi darśataḥ |
mā vo yāmeṣu marutaś ciraṁ karat pra taṁ ratheṣu codata || 7 ||
rathaṁ nu mārutaṁ vayaṁ śravasyum ā huvāmahe |
ā yasmin tasthau suraṇāni bibhratī sacā marutsu rodasī || 8 ||
taṁ vaḥ śardhaṁ ratheśubhaṁ tveṣam panasyum ā huve |
yasmin sujātā subhagā mahīyate sacā marutsu mīḻhuṣī || 9 ||
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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