Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda V.70 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.
All hail to thee, O Mitra! All hail to thee, O Varuṇa! Ye who art clothed in splendor and majesty, who holdest the destinies of gods and men in thy hands. We sing thy praise with voices trembling with awe and love.
How glorious art thou! How terrible and wonderful beyond the comprehension of mortal mind! The very ground trembleth beneath thy feet; the heavens ring with thy voice. Yet thou art also gentle—tender toward thy servants, merciful toward those who repent, kind to the animals that depend upon thy care.
Thou art the source of all justice, all order, all truth. From thee floweth the very substance of ṛta—that cosmic principle that holdeth all things in their proper place. Without thee, there would be only chaos and confusion, darkness and despair.
We love thee with all our hearts! We trust thee with all our being. Though we are frail and ignorant, though we stumble and fall, still we look to thee for guidance and strength. Thou art our father; thou art our king; thou art our judge and our savior all at once.
Accept our hymn as a token of our devotion! Let it please thee as a fragrant flower pleaseth the one who receiveth it. And in thy generosity, grant us some small portion of thy wisdom, thy strength, thy boundless compassion. Bless us and keep us; let thy face shine upon us; give us thy peace.
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.70
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.
purūruṇā cid dhy asty avo nūnaṁ vāṁ varuṇa |
mitra vaṁsi vāṁ sumatim || 1 ||
tā vāṁ samyag adruhvāṇeṣam aśyāma dhāyase |
vayaṁ te rudrā syāma || 2 ||
pātaṁ no rudrā pāyubhir uta trāyethāṁ sutrātrā |
turyāma dasyūn tanūbhiḥ || 3 ||
mā kasyādbhutakratū yakṣam bhujemā tanūbhiḥ |
mā śeṣasā mā tanasā || 4 ||
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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