Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda V.63 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.
Behold the eye of heaven! The sun doth hang in the vault of sky, the all-seeing gaze of Mitra-Varuṇa. Nothing escapeth that burning eye—not the secret deed done in darkness, not the whispered lie, not the oath sworn and forgotten. The sun seeth all; the sun judgeth all.
By day the bright orb revealeth all deceptions. By night the stars maintain their watch. No man can hide from the eyes of the twin lords. Even the darkness beareth witness against the wicked; even the silence speaketh thy truth.
Ye are the guardians of oaths! When a man sweareth before his brothers, ye hearken. When he breaketh his word, ye remember. The liar may flee to the ends of the earth, but thy gaze followeth him. The deceiver may hide among the crowd, but thy knowledge pierceth the veil.
Therefore let us be true in word and deed! Let us keep our covenants as the sun keepeth its course. Let us speak only what we know, promise only what we can perform. For ye are eternal; ye are all-knowing; ye are the very foundation of justice.
O Mitra! O Varuṇa! Ye who seest all and rememberest all—grant us grace to walk the path of truth. Let our words be like clear water, free from the taint of deception. Let our oaths be as stone, unbreakable and enduring. Bind us in the cord of ṛta, that we may not stray into darkness and folly.
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.63
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.
ṛtasya gopāv adhi tiṣṭhatho rathaṁ satyadharmāṇā parame vyomani |
yam atra mitrāvaruṇāvatho yuvaṁ tasmai vṛṣṭir madhumat pinvate divaḥ || 1 ||
samrājāv asya bhuvanasya rājatho mitrāvaruṇā vidathe svardṛśā |
vṛṣṭiṁ vāṁ rādho amṛtatvam īmahe dyāvāpṛthivī vi caranti tanyavaḥ || 2 ||
samrājā ugrā vṛṣabhā divas patī pṛthivyā mitrāvaruṇā vicarṣaṇī |
citrebhir abhrair upa tiṣṭhatho ravaṁ dyāṁ varṣayatho asurasya māyayā || 3 ||
māyā vām mitrāvaruṇā divi śritā sūryo jyotiś carati citram āyudham |
tam abhreṇa vṛṣṭyā gūhatho divi parjanya drapsā madhumanta īrate || 4 ||
rathaṁ yuñjate marutaḥ śubhe sukhaṁ śūro na mitrāvaruṇā gaviṣṭiṣu |
rajāṁsi citrā vi caranti tanyavo divaḥ samrājā payasā na ukṣatam || 5 ||
vācaṁ su mitrāvaruṇāv irāvatīm parjanyaś citrāṁ vadati tviṣīmatīm |
abhrā vasata marutaḥ su māyayā dyāṁ varṣayatam aruṇām arepasam || 6 ||
dharmaṇā mitrāvaruṇā vipaścitā vratā rakṣethe asurasya māyayā |
ṛtena viśvam bhuvanaṁ vi rājathaḥ sūryam ā dhattho divi citryaṁ ratham || 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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