Hymn to Savitṛ
Rigveda V.81 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.
O Savitṛ, the impeller! Thou who settest all things in motion, the solar deity whose golden hands guide the cosmos through its eternal dance. From the beginning of time, thou hast pushed the sun across the sky. Thy power moveth heaven and earth.
Before thee was only stillness, void and silence. But thou didst speak, and the universe sprang into being. Thou didst command the sun to rise, and it obeyeth thee. Thou didst set the stars in their courses, and they follow thy design. All motion, all change, all becoming—these flow from thy will.
Savitṛ, golden-handed, thy fingers touch everything that liveth. The plant groweth at thy command. The seed sprouteth. The child stirs in the womb. The bird taketh flight. Every breath, every heartbeat, every thought—all are impelled forward by thy invisible force.
Thou art the impeller of the gods themselves! Even Indra and Agni, mighty though they are, move at thy direction. Even Varuṇa in his vast sovereignty must bow to thy power, for thou art the fundamental force of becoming upon which all else dependeth.
We praise thee, O Savitṛ, for thou allowest us to exist. Without thee, we would be frozen in place, unchanging, dead. Thy touch is life itself. Thy command is the reason why the sun riseth and falleth, why the seasons turn, why we are born and grow and eventually return to the earth.
Grant us the blessing of thy impelling force. Help us to move through our days with purpose, to grow toward our destiny, to fulfill the role that thou hast ordained for us in the great cosmic dance.
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.81
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.
yuñjate mana uta yuñjate dhiyo viprā viprasya bṛhato vipaścitaḥ |
vi hotrā dadhe vayunāvid eka in mahī devasya savituḥ pariṣṭutiḥ || 1 ||
viśvā rūpāṇi prati muñcate kaviḥ prāsāvīd bhadraṁ dvipade catuṣpade |
vi nākam akhyat savitā vareṇyo 'nu prayāṇam uṣaso vi rājati || 2 ||
yasya prayāṇam anv anya id yayur devā devasya mahimānam ojasā |
yaḥ pārthivāni vimame sa etaśo rajāṁsi devaḥ savitā mahitvanā || 3 ||
uta yāsi savitas trīṇi rocanota sūryasya raśmibhiḥ sam ucyasi |
uta rātrīm ubhayataḥ parīyasa uta mitro bhavasi deva dharmabhiḥ || 4 ||
uteśiṣe prasavasya tvam eka id uta pūṣā bhavasi deva yāmabhiḥ |
utedaṁ viśvam bhuvanaṁ vi rājasi śyāvāśvas te savitaḥ stomam ānaśe || 5 ||
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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