Hymn to Varuṇa
Rigveda VIII.41 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 8 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 Varuṇa, the wide-eyed lord who seeth all, who standeth over earth and heaven both,
We call upon thy sovereign will and dreadful sway.
Thou rulest with a gaze that pierceth dark and stone; thy spies go forth on every road.
No man escapeth thy all-seeing eye, though he hide in the farthest reach of earth.
The waters fear thee, and the wind doth bow.
By thy decree the sun riseth, and by thy law the moon and stars hold fast their course.
Thou guardest ṛta—the sacred order of the world—with rod and covenant unbroken.
This is thy glory, O great sovereign one.
Yet I have sinned against thy law; my deeds have fallen short of what thou held'st as right.
My tongue hath lied, my hands have grasped what was not mine, my heart hath turned from truth.
I come before thee broken and ashamed.
Bind me not with thy nooses of reproach, O Varuṇa, thou keeper of the bonds.
Loose me from the weight of my transgressions, as a chariot freed from broken wheels.
Grant me thy grace, O master of the sky.
There is no lord beside thee who doth hold such might and wisdom in his grasp.
Thou know'st the secret deeds done in the dark; thou know'st the hidden wish within the breast.
Yet thou art merciful to those who seek forgiveness.
I offer thee my prayer like libation poured upon the flame of sacrifice.
Accept my words, O sovereign lord, and let thy wrath be turned to gentleness.
Let me go free, reborn from mine own foolishness.
A thousand times a thousand are thy names; yet in all lands thy majesty is known.
The heavens and the waters cry thy praise; the earth beneath doth tremble at thy will.
Accept the worship of this humble voice.
Grant me thy friendship, O Varuṇa, and I shall walk uprightly all my days.
Let me not fall again into the pit where sinners dwell in darkness, bound and wailing.
Teach me the way of truth that leadeth back to thee.
So stands my prayer before thee, rendered up with honest heart and contrite mind.
O wide-eyed lord, thou sovereign of all worlds, regard me now and heal the wound within.
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 VIII.41
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.
asmā ū ṣu prabhūtaye varuṇāya marudbhyo 'rcā viduṣṭarebhyaḥ |
yo dhītā mānuṣāṇām paśvo gā iva rakṣati nabhantām anyake same || 1 ||
tam ū ṣu samanā girā pitṝṇāṁ ca manmabhiḥ |
nābhākasya praśastibhir yaḥ sindhūnām upodaye saptasvasā sa madhyamo nabhantām anyake same || 2 ||
sa kṣapaḥ pari ṣasvaje ny u1sro māyayā dadhe sa viśvam pari darśataḥ |
tasya venīr anu vratam uṣas tisro avardhayan nabhantām anyake same || 3 ||
yaḥ kakubho nidhārayaḥ pṛthivyām adhi darśataḥ |
sa mātā pūrvyam padaṁ tad varuṇasya saptyaṁ sa hi gopā iveryo nabhantām anyake same || 4 ||
yo dhartā bhuvanānāṁ ya usrāṇām apīcyā3 veda nāmāni guhyā |
sa kaviḥ kāvyā puru rūpaṁ dyaur iva puṣyati nabhantām anyake same || 5 ||
yasmin viśvāni kāvyā cakre nābhir iva śritā |
tritaṁ jūtī saparyata vraje gāvo na saṁyuje yuje aśvām̐ ayukṣata nabhantām anyake same || 6 ||
ya āsv atka āśaye viśvā jātāny eṣām |
pari dhāmāni marmṛśad varuṇasya puro gaye viśve devā anu vrataṁ nabhantām anyake same || 7 ||
sa samudro apīcyas turo dyām iva rohati ni yad āsu yajur dadhe |
sa māyā arcinā padāstṛṇān nākam āruhan nabhantām anyake same || 8 ||
yasya śvetā vicakṣaṇā tisro bhūmīr adhikṣitaḥ |
trir uttarāṇi papratur varuṇasya dhruvaṁ sadaḥ sa saptānām irajyati nabhantām anyake same || 9 ||
yaḥ śvetām̐ adhinirṇijaś cakre kṛṣṇām̐ anu vratā |
sa dhāma pūrvyam mame yaḥ skambhena vi rodasī ajo na dyām adhārayan nabhantām anyake same || 10 ||
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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