Hymn to Uṣas
Rigveda VII.75 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 Uṣas, thou radiant maiden of the dawn! Thou who risest each morning from thy couch of gold! Thou who drivest away the darkness with thy tender light!
The night hath fled; the stars have hidden their faces. Thou appearest, robed in crimson and gold, and all the world awakens to greet thee!
How beautiful thou art, O goddess of the dawn! Thy fingers are tinged with rose; thy robes are woven of light itself. When thou speakest, the birds sing out their joy. When thou smiledst, all the earth groweth green!
The night was long and cold and dark. The creatures huddled in their holes, afraid and shivering. But thou comest, O blessed one, and with thy coming cometh warmth and comfort and light!
The maiden waketh from her sleep and stretcheth her limbs. The warrior stirs himself and reaches for his spear. The mother taketh her infant to her breast. All because of thee, O glorious one!
The old man seeth thy light and remembereth his youth. The sick one feeleth thy warmth and hopeth for healing. The sorrowful one beholdeth thy beauty and taketh heart!
Thou art the gift of the gods to all mortals! Thou art the sign of renewal and rebirth! Each day thou dost rise, thou bringest with thee the promise of all good things!
O Uṣas, dawn incarnate, light of the heavens, beloved of all creatures! Accept our hymn of praise! Come to us each morning as thou hast come since the beginning of time! Bring with thee health and prosperity! Make our days bright and our hearts glad! O radiant goddess, we bow before thee in gratitude and love!
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.75
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.
vy u1ṣā āvo divijā ṛtenāviṣkṛṇvānā mahimānam āgāt |
apa druhas tama āvar ajuṣṭam aṅgirastamā pathyā ajīgaḥ || 1 ||
mahe no adya suvitāya bodhy uṣo mahe saubhagāya pra yandhi |
citraṁ rayiṁ yaśasaṁ dhehy asme devi marteṣu mānuṣi śravasyum || 2 ||
ete tye bhānavo darśatāyāś citrā uṣaso amṛtāsa āguḥ |
janayanto daivyāni vratāny āpṛṇanto antarikṣā vy asthuḥ || 3 ||
eṣā syā yujānā parākāt pañca kṣitīḥ pari sadyo jigāti |
abhipaśyantī vayunā janānāṁ divo duhitā bhuvanasya patnī || 4 ||
vājinīvatī sūryasya yoṣā citrāmaghā rāya īśe vasūnām |
ṛṣiṣṭutā jarayantī maghony uṣā ucchati vahnibhir gṛṇānā || 5 ||
prati dyutānām aruṣāso aśvāś citrā adṛśrann uṣasaṁ vahantaḥ |
yāti śubhrā viśvapiśā rathena dadhāti ratnaṁ vidhate janāya || 6 ||
satyā satyebhir mahatī mahadbhir devī devebhir yajatā yajatraiḥ |
rujad dṛḻhāni dadad usriyāṇām prati gāva uṣasaṁ vāvaśanta || 7 ||
nū no gomad vīravad dhehi ratnam uṣo aśvāvat purubhojo asme |
mā no barhiḥ puruṣatā nide kar yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 8 ||
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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