Hymn to Parjanya
Rigveda VII.101 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 7 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 Parjanya! Rain-god! Thunder-bringer! Thou whom the earth crieth out for when the fields are parched and dry! Come now with thy blessing! Come with thy life-giving waters!
The sky darkens at thy approach. The winds rise; the clouds gather; the air becomes thick with moisture. And then—the rain! The glorious, blessed rain! It falleth upon the earth like a gift from the gods themselves.
The plants do rejoice at thy coming. They lift their leaves toward the sky, opening themselves to receive thy blessing. The soil drinketh deeply; the roots do stretch downward, seeking thy nourishing waters. Within days, the withered field becometh green again; the drooping flowers lift their heads; the dying creatures return to life.
Thou art the father of all living things, O mighty Parjanya. Without thee, nothing could survive. Without thy rain, the world would become a barren wasteland. But with thee, life flourishes; joy aboundeth; the future is assured.
The thunder is thy voice; the lightning is thy hand raised in blessing. When thou speakest, all the world trembles with anticipation. When thou strikeest, the rain descendeth like a flood.
Come, O rain-god! Come and bless our fields! Make our crops grow tall! Make our herds multiply! Make our people prosper! Accept our offering; accept our prayers; accept our gratitude! For all that we have, we owe to thee!
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 VII.101
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.
tisro vācaḥ pra vada jyotiragrā yā etad duhre madhudogham ūdhaḥ |
sa vatsaṁ kṛṇvan garbham oṣadhīnāṁ sadyo jāto vṛṣabho roravīti || 1 ||
yo vardhana oṣadhīnāṁ yo apāṁ yo viśvasya jagato deva īśe |
sa tridhātu śaraṇaṁ śarma yaṁsat trivartu jyotiḥ svabhiṣṭy a1sme || 2 ||
starīr u tvad bhavati sūta u tvad yathāvaśaṁ tanvaṁ cakra eṣaḥ |
pituḥ payaḥ prati gṛbhṇāti mātā tena pitā vardhate tena putraḥ || 3 ||
yasmin viśvāni bhuvanāni tasthus tisro dyāvas tredhā sasrur āpaḥ |
trayaḥ kośāsa upasecanāso madhvaḥ ścotanty abhito virapśam || 4 ||
idaṁ vacaḥ parjanyāya svarāje hṛdo astv antaraṁ taj jujoṣat |
mayobhuvo vṛṣṭayaḥ santv asme supippalā oṣadhīr devagopāḥ || 5 ||
sa retodhā vṛṣabhaḥ śaśvatīnāṁ tasminn ātmā jagatas tasthuṣaś ca |
tan ma ṛtam pātu śataśāradāya yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 6 ||
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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