Hymn to Pūṣan
Rigveda VI.58 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 6 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 Pūṣan, thou art called the nourisher of all the earth. The roots draw water; the seeds do sprout; the creatures grow and multiply.
Every living thing dependeth on thy bounty and thy care. Without thee, nothing thriveth; all would wither and would die.
Thou art the lord of sustenance, the keeper of the sacred store. The granary is full because of thee; the vessels overflow with grain.
The mother giveth milk to babe because the sacred power floweth through her. The cow doth give her milk; the ewe doth nourish all her young. All life sustaineth other life—and thou art the source of all this chain.
Thou feedest the immortal gods in heaven. Thou feedest mortal men on earth. Thou feedest all the beasts that roam the fields and forests and the mountains high.
When famine cometh, thou alone hast power to turn it back. When plague doth strike the cattle down, thy healing hand doth make them whole.
O Pūṣan, nourisher and lord, we pray to thee this sacred day. Grant that our fields may yield their crop. Grant that our cattle may be strong.
Give us sufficiency of food—not want, but not excess. Give us the wisdom to be grateful for the gifts that thou dost send.
And teach us to be generous in turn, to share our bread with those who hunger, to succor those who suffer want. For all sustenance is thine, and we are stewards of thy bounty.
O Pūṣan, golden one, receive our praise and our devotion true. Nourish us, now and evermore, in body, mind, and soul.
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 VI.58
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.
śukraṁ te anyad yajataṁ te anyad viṣurūpe ahanī dyaur ivāsi |
viśvā hi māyā avasi svadhāvo bhadrā te pūṣann iha rātir astu || 1 ||
ajāśvaḥ paśupā vājapastyo dhiyaṁjinvo bhuvane viśve arpitaḥ |
aṣṭrām pūṣā śithirām udvarīvṛjat saṁcakṣāṇo bhuvanā deva īyate || 2 ||
yās te pūṣan nāvo antaḥ samudre hiraṇyayīr antarikṣe caranti |
tābhir yāsi dūtyāṁ sūryasya kāmena kṛta śrava icchamānaḥ || 3 ||
pūṣā subandhur diva ā pṛthivyā iḻas patir maghavā dasmavarcāḥ |
yaṁ devāso adaduḥ sūryāyai kāmena kṛtaṁ tavasaṁ svañcam || 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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