
The Rig Veda translation, Book 1, Verses 180 - 191

HYMN CLXXX. Asvins.
1. LIGHTLY your coursers travel through the regions when
round thesea of air your car is flying.
Your golden fellies
scatter drops of moisture: drinking the sweetness ye atend the
Mornings.
2 Ye as ye travel overtake the Courser who flies
apart, the Friend of man, most holy.
The prayer is that the
Sister may convey you, all praised, meath-drinkers! to support
and strengthen.
3 Ye have deposited, matured within her,
in the raw cow the first milk of the milch-cow,
Which the bright offerer, shining like a serpent mid trees,
presents to you whose form is perfect.
4 Ye made the fierce
heat to be full of sweetness for Atri at his wish, like streaming
water.
Fire-offering thence is yours, O Asvins, Heroes: your
car-wheels speed to us like springs of honey.
5 Like Tugra's
ancient son may I, ye Mighty, bring you to give your gifts with
milk-oblations.
Your greatness compasseth Earth, Heaven,
and Waters: decayed for you is sorrow's net, ye Holy.
6 When,
Bounteous Ones, ye drive your yoked team downward, ye send,
by your own natures, understanding.
Swift as the wind let
the prince please and feast you: he, like a pious man, gains
strength for increase.
7 For verily we truthful singers praise
you the niggard trafficker is here excluded.
Now, even now
do ye O blameless Advins, ye Mighty, guard the man whose God
is near him.
8 You of a truth day after day, O Asvins, that
he might win the very plenteous torrent,
Agastya, famous
among mortal heroes, roused with a thousand lauds like sounds
of music.
9 When with the glory of your car ye travel, when
we go speeding like the priest of mortals,
And give good
horses to sacrificers, may we, Nasatyas! gain our share of riches.
10 With songs of praise we call to-day, O Asvins, that your
new chariot, for our own well-being,
That circles heaven
with never-injured fellies. May we find strengthening food in
full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXI. Asvins
1. WHAT, dearest Pair, is this in strength and riches that
ye as Priests are bring from the waters?
This sacrifice is
your glorification, ye who protect mankind and give them treasures.
2 May your pure steeds, rain-drinkers, bring you hither, swift
as the tempest, your celestial coursers,
Rapid as thought,
with fair backs, full of vigour, resplendent in their native
light, O Asvins.
3 Your car is like a torrent rushing downward:
may it come nigh, broad-seated, for our welfare,-
Car holy,
strong, that ever would be foremost, thought-swift, which ye,
for whom we long, have mounted.
4 Here sprung to life, they
both have sung together, with bodies free from stain, with signs
that mark them;
One of you Prince of Sacrifice, the Victor,
the other counts as Heaven's auspicious offspring.
5 May
your car-seat, down-gliding, golden-coloured, according to your
wish approach our dwellings.
Men shall feed full the bay
steeds of the other, and, Asvins they with roars shall stir
the regions.
6 Forth comes your strong Bull like a cloud
of autumn, sending abundant food of liquid sweetness.
Let
them feed with the other's ways and vigour: the upper streams
have come and do us service.
7 Your constant song hath been
sent forth, Disposers! that flows threefold in mighty strength,
O Asvins.
Thus lauded, give the suppliant protection moving
or resting hear mine invocation.
8 This song of bright contents
for you is swelling in the men's hall where three-fold grass
is.ready.
Your strong rain-cloud, ye Mighty Ones, hath swollen,
honouring men as 'twere with milk's outpouring.
9 The prudent
worshipper, like Pusan, Asvins! praises you as he praises Dawn
and Agni,
When, singing with devotion, he invokes you. May
we find strengthening food in full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXII. Asvins.
1. THIS was the task. Appear promptly, ye prudent Ones. Here
is the chariot drawn by strong steeds: be ye glad.
Heart-stirring,
longed for, succourers of Vispala, here are Heaven's Sons whose
sway blesses the pious man.
2 Longed for, most Indra-like,
mighty, most Marut-like, most w6nderful in deed, car-borne,
best charioteers,
Bring your full chariot hither heaped with
liquid sweet: thereon, ye Mvins, come to him who offers gifts.
3 What make ye there, ye Mighty? Wherefore linger ye with folk
who, offering not, are held in high esteem?
Pass over them;
make ye the niggard's life decay: give light unto the singer
eloquent in praise.
4 Crunch up on. every side the dogs who
bark at us: slay ye our foes, O Asvins this ye understand.
Make wealthy every word of him who praises you: accept with
favour, both Nasatyas, this my laud.
5 Ye made for Tugra's
son amid the water-floods that animated ship with wings to fly
withal,
Whereon with God-devoted mind ye brought him forth,
and fled with easy flight from out the mighty surge.
6 Four
ships most welcome in the midst of ocean, urged by the Asvins,
save the son of Tugra,
Him who was cast down headlong in
the waters, plunged in the thick inevitable darkness.
7 What
tree was that which stood fixed in surrounding sea to which
the son of Tugra supplicating clung?
Like twigs, of which
some winged creature may take hold, ye, Asvins, bore him off
safely to your renown.
8 Welcome to you be this the hymn
of praises uttered by Manas, O Nasatyas, Heroes,
From this
our gathering where we offer Soma. May we find strengthening
food in full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXIII. Asvins.
1. MAKE ready that which passes thought in swiftness, that
hath three wheels and triple seat, ye Mighty,
Whereon ye
seek the dwelling of the pious, whereon, threefold, ye fly like
birds with pinions.
2 Light rolls your easy chariot faring
earthward, what time, for food, ye, full of wisdom, mount it.
May this song, wondrous fair, attend your glory: ye, as ye travel,
wait on Dawn Heaven's Daughter.
3 Ascend your lightly rolling
car, approaching the worshipper who turns him to his duties,-
Whereon ye come unto the house to quicken man and his offspring,
O Nasatyas, Heroes.
4 Let not the wolf, let not the she-wolf
harm you. Forsake me not, nor pass me by or others.
Here
stands your share, here is your hymn, ye Mighty: yours are these
vessels, full of pleasant juices.
5 Gotama, Purumilha, Atri
bringing oblations all invoke you for protection.
Like one
who goes strai ht to the point directed, ye Nasatyas, to mine
invocation.
6 We have passed o'er the limit of this darkness:
our praise hath been bestowed on you, O Asvins.
Come hitherward
by paths which Gods have travelled. May we find strengthening
food in full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXIV Asvins.
1. LET us invoke you both this day and after the priest is
here with lauds when morn is breaking:
Nasatyas, wheresoe'er
ye be, Heaven's Children, for him who is more liberal than the
godless.
2 With us, ye Mighty, let yourselves be joyful,
glad in our stream of Soma slay the niggards.
Graciously
hear my hymns and invitations, marking, O Heroes, with your
cars my longing.
3 Nasatyas, Pusans, ye as Gods for glory
arranged and set in order Surya's bridal.
Your giant steeds
move on, sprung from the waters, like ancient times of Varuna
the Mighty.
4 Your grace be with us, ye who love sweet juices:
further the hymn sung by the poet Mana,
When men are joyful
in your glorious actions, to win heroic strength, ye Bounteous
Givers.
5 This praise was made, O liberal Lords, O Asvins,
for you with fair adornment by the Manas.
Come to our house
for us and for our children, rejoicing, O Nasatyas, in Agastya.
6 We have passed o'er the limit of this darkness: our praise
hath been'bestowed on you, O Asvins.
Come hitherward by paths
which Gods have travelled. may we find strengthening food in
full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXV. Heaven and Earth.
1. WHETHER of these is elder, whether later? How were they
born? Who knoweth it, ye sages?
These of themselves support
all things existing: as on a car the Day and Night roll onward.
2 The Twain uphold, though motionless and footless, a widespread
offspring having feet and moving.
Like your own fon upon
his parents' bosom, protect us, Heaven and earth, from fearful
danger.
3 I call for Aditi's unrivalled bounty, perfect,
celestial, deathless, meet for worship.
Produce this, ye
Twain Worlds, for him who lauds you. Protect us, Heaven and
Earth, from fearful danger.
4 May we be close to both the
Worlds who suffer no pain, Parents of Gods, who aid with favour,
Both mid the Gods, with Day and Night alternate. Protect us,
Heaven and Earth, from fearful danger.
5 Faring together,
young, with meeting limits, Twin Sisters lying in their Parents'
bosom,
Kissing the centre of the world together. Protect
us, Heaven and Earth, from fearful danger.
6 Duly I call
the two wide seats, the mighty, the general Parents, with the
God's protection.
Who, beautiful to look on, make the nectar.
Protect us, Heaven and Earth, from fearful danger.
7 Wide,
vast, and manifold, whose bounds are distant,-these, reverent,
I address at this our worship,
The blessed Pair, victorious,
all-sustaining. Protect us, Heaven and Earth, from fearful danger.
8 What sin we have at any time committed against the Gods, our
friend, our house's chieftain,
Thereof may this our hymn
be expiation. Protect us, Heaven and Earth, from fearful danger.
9 May both these Friends of man, who bless, preserve me, may
they attend me with their help and favour.
Enrich the man
more liberal than the godless. May we, ye Gods, be strong with
food rejoicing.
10 Endowed with understanding, I have uttered
this truth, for all to hear, to Earth and Heaven.
Be near
us, keep us from reproach and trouble. Father and Mother, with
your help preserve us.
11 Be this my prayer fulfilled, O
Earth and Heaven, wherewith, Father and Mother, I address you.
Nearest of Gods be ye with your protection. May we find strengthening
food in full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXVI. Visvedevas.
1. LOVED of all men, may Savitar, through praises offered
as sacred food, come to our synod,
That you too, through-our
hymn, ye ever-youthful, may gladden, at your visit, all our
people.
2 To us may all the Gods come trooped together, Aryaman,
Mitra, Varuna concordant,
That all may be promoters of our
welfare, and with great might preserve our strength from slackness.
3 Agni I sing, the guest you love most dearly: the Conqueror
through our lauds is friendly-minded.
That he may be our
Varuna rich in glory and send food like a prince praised by
the godly.
4 To you I seek with reverence, Night and Morning,
like a cow good to milk, with hope to conquer,
Preparing
on a common day the praise. song with milk of various hues within
this udder.
5 May the great Dragon of the Deep rejoice us:
as one who nourishes her young comes Sindhu,
With whom we
will incite the Child of Waters whom vigorous course swift as
thought bring hither.
6 Moreover Tvastar also shall approach
us, one-minded with the princes at his visit.
Hither shall
come the Vrtra-slayer Indra, Ruler of men, as strongest of the
Heroes.
7 Him too our hymns delight, that yoke swift horses,
like mother cows who lick their tender youngling.
To him
our songs shall yield themselves like spouses, to him the most
delightful of the Heroes.
8 So may the Maruts, armed with
mighty weapons, rest here on heaven and earth with hearts in
concord,
As Gods whose cars have dappled steeds like torrents,
destroyers of the foe allies of Mitra.
9 They hasten on to
happy termination their orders when they are made known by
glory.
As on a fair bright day the arrow flieth o'er all
the barren soil their missiles sparkle.
10 Incline the Asvins
to show grace, and Pusan, for power and might have they, their
own possession.
Friendly are Visnu, Vata, and Rbhuksan so
may I bring the Gods to make us happy.
11 This is my reverent
thought of you, ye Holy; may it inspire you, make you dwell
among us,-
Thought, toiling for the Gods and seeking treasure.
May we find strengthening food in full abundance.
HYMN CLXXXVII. Praise of Food.
1. Now will I glorify Food that upholds great strength,
By whose invigorating power Trita rent Vrtra limb frorn limb.
2 O pleasant Food, O Food of meath, thee have we chosen for
our own,
So be our kind protector thou.
3 Come hitherward
to us, O Food, auspicious with auspicious help,
Health-bringing,
not unkind, a dear and guileless friend.
4 These juices which,
O Food, are thine throughout the regions are diffused.
like
winds they have their place in heaven.
5 These gifts of thine,
O Food, O Food most sweet to taste,
These savours of thy
juices work like creatures that have mighty necks.
6 In thee,
O Food, is set the spirit of great Gods.
Under thy flag brave
deeds were done he slew the Dragon with thy help.
7 If thou
be gone unto the splendour of the clouds,
Even from thence,
O Food of meath, prepared for our enjoyment, come.
8 Whatever
morsel we consume from waters or from plants of earth, O Soma,
wax thou fat thereby.
9 What Soma, we enjoy from thee in
milky food or barley-brew, Vatapi, grow thou fat thereby.
10 O Vegetable, Cake of meal, he wholesome, firm, and strengthening:
Vatapi, grow thou fat thereby.
11 O Food, from thee as such
have we drawn forth with lauds, like cows, our sacrificial gifts,
From thee who banquetest with Gods, from thee who banquetest
with us.
HYMN CLXXXVIII. April
1. WINNER of thousands, kindled, thou shinest a God with
Gods to-day.
Bear out oblations, envoy, Sage.
2 Child
of Thyself the sacrifice is for the righteous blent with meath,
Presenting viands thousandfold.
3 Invoked and worthy of our
praise bring Gods whose due is sacrifice:
Thou, Agni, givest
countless gifts.
4 To seat a thousand Heroes they eastward
have strewn the grass with might,
Whereon, Adityas, ye shine
forth.
5 The sovran all-imperial Doors, wide, good, many
and manifold,
Have poured their streams of holy oil.
6
With gay adornment, fair to see, in glorious beauty shine they
forth:
Let Night and Morning rest them here.
7 Let these
two Sages first of all, heralds divine and eloquent,
Perform
for us this sacrifice.
8 You I address, Sarasvati, and Bharati,
and Ila, all:
Urge ye us on to glorious fame.
9 Tvastar
the Lord hath made all forms and all the cattle of the field
Cause them to multiply for us.
10 Send to the Gods, Vanaspati,
thyself, the sacrificial draught:
Let Agni make the oblations
sweet.
11 Agni, preceder of the Gods, is honoured with the
sacred song:
He glows at offerings blest with Hail!
HYMN CLXXXIX. Agni.
1. BY goodly paths lead us to riches, Agni, God who knowest
every sacred duty.
Remove the sin that makes us stray and
wander. most ample adoration will we bring thee.
2 Lead us
anew to happiness, O Agni; lead us beyond all danger and affliction.
Be unto us a wide broad ample castle bless, prosper on their
way our sons and offspring.
3 Far from us, Agni, put thou
all diseases let them strike lauds that have no saving Agni.
God, make our home again to be a b1ess ing, with all the Immortal
Deities, O Holy.
4 Preserve us, Agni, with perpetual succour,
refulgent in the dwelling which thou lovest.
O Conqueror,
most youthful, let no danger touch him who praises thee to-day
or after.
5 Give not us up a prey to sin, O Agni, the greedy
enemy that brings us trouble;
Not to the fanged that bites,
not to the toothless: give not us up, thou Conqueror, to the
spoiler.
6 Such as thou art, born after Law, O Agni when
lauded give protection to our bodies,
From whosoever would
reproach or injure: for thou, God, rcscuest from all oppression.
7 Thou, well discerning both these classes, comest to men at
early morn, O holy Agni.
Be thou obedient unto man at evening,
to be adorned, as keen, by eager suitors.
8 To him have we
addressed our pious speeches, I, Mana's son, to him victorious
Agni.
May we gain countless riches with the sages. May we
find strengthening food in full abundance.
HYMN CXC. Brhaspati.
1.GLORIFY thou Brhaspati, the scatheless, who must be praised
with hymns, sweet-tongued and mighty,
To whom as leader of
the song, resplendent, worthy of lauds, both Gods and mortals
listen.
2 On him wait songs according to the season even
as a stream of pious men set moving.
Brhaspati-for helaid
out the expanses- was, at the sacrifice, vast Matarisvan.
3 The praise, the verse that offers adoration, may he bring
forth, as the Sun sends his arms out,
He who gives daily
light through this God's wisdom, strong as a dread wild beast,
and inoffensive.
4 His song of praise pervades the earth
and heaven - let the wise worshipper draw it, like a courser.
These of Brhaspati, like hunters' arrows, go to the skies that
change their hue like serpents.
5 Those, God, who count thee
as a worthless bullock, and, wealthy sinners, live on thee the
Bounteous,-
On fools like these no blessing thou bestowest:
Brhaspati, thou punishest the spiteful.
6 Like a fair path
is he, where grass is pleasant, though hard to win, a Friend
beloved most early.
Those who unharmed by enemies behold
us, while: they would make them bare, stood closely compassed.
7 He to whom songs of praise go forth like torrents, as rivers
eddying under banks flow sea-ward-
Brhaspati the wise, the
eager, closely looks upon both, the waters and the vessel.
8 So hath Brhaspati, great, strong and mighty, the God exceeding
powerful, been brought hither.
May he thus lauded give us
kine and horses. May we find strengthening food in full abundance.
HYMN CXCI Water. Grass. Sun.
1. VENOMOUS, slightly venomous, or venomous aquatic worm,-
Both creatures, stinging, unobserved, with poison have infected
me.
2 Coming, it kills the unobserved; it kills them as it
goes away,
It kills them as it drives them off, and bruising
bruises them to death.
3 Sara grass, Darbha, Kusara, and
Sairya, Munja, Virana,
Where all these creatures dwell unseen,
with poison have infected me.
4 The cows had settled in their
stalls, the beasts of prey had sought their lairs,
Extinguished
were the lights of men, when things unseen infected me.
5
Or these, thesereptiles, are observed, like lurking thieves
at evening time.
Seers of all, themselves unseen: be therefore
very vigilant.
6 Heaven is your Sire, your Mother Earth,
Soma your Brother, Aditi
Your Sister: seeing all, unseen,
keep still and dwell ye happily.
7 Biters of shoulder or
of limb, with needle-stings, most venomous,
Unseen, whatever
ye may be, vanish together and be gone.
8 Slayer of things
unseen, the Sun, beheld of all, mounts, eastward, up,
Consuming
all that are not seen, and evil spirits of the night.
9 There
hath the Sun-God mounted up, who scorches much and everything.
Even the Aditya from the hills, all-seen, destroying things
unseen.
10 I hang the poison in the Sun, a wine-skin in a
vintner's house,
He will not die, nor shall we die: his path
is far: he whom Bay Horses bear hath turned thee to sweet meath.
11 This little bird, so very small, hath swallowed all thy poison
up.
She will not die, nor shall we die: his path is far:
he whom Bay Horses bear hath turned thee to sweet meath.
12 The three-times-seven bright sparks of fire have swallowed
up the poison's strength.
They will not die, nor shall we
die: his path is far: he whom Bay Horses bear hath turned thee
to sweet meath.
13 Of ninety rivers and of nine with power
to stay the venom's course,-
The names of all I have secured:
his path is far: he whom Bay Horses bear hath turned thee to
sweet meath.
14 So have the peahens three-times-seven, so
have the maiden Sisters Seven
Carried thy venom far away,
as girls bear water in their jars.
15 The poison-insect is
so small; I crush the creature with a stone.
I turn the poison
hence away, departed unto distant lands.
16 Forth issuing
from the mountain's side the poison-insect spake and said:
The scorpion's venom hath no strength Scorpion, thy venom is
but weak.
by Griffith 1896
Suggestions for Further Reading
- The Rig Veda translation by Griffith, Introduction
- Hymns of the Sama veda translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith
- Yajur Veda: The Veda Of The Black Yajus School
- Hymns Of The Atharva-Veda
- Anugita English Translation
- THE Sanatsugâtîya, A Spiritual Dialogue
- Dharmashastras, the Sacred Law Books of Hindus
- The Hindu Dharmashastras, Subject Index
- The Grihya Sutras, The Vedic Domestic Ritual Texts
- The Sankhya Sutras of Kapila, Index page
- Translation of Upanishads by Swami Paramananda, Index
- A History Of Indian Philosophy - Chapter Index
- The Upanishads translated by Max Muller
- Vedic Reader for Students
- The Bhagavad-gita in a nutshell
- Essays On Dharma
- Esoteric Mystic Hinduism
- Introduction to Hinduism
- Hindu Way of Life
- Essays On Karma
- Hindu Rites and Rituals
- The Origin of The Sanskrit Language
- Symbolism in Hinduism
- Essays on The Upanishads
- Concepts of Hinduism
- Essays on Atman
- Hindu Festivals
- Spiritual Practice
- Right Living
- Yoga of Sorrow
- Happiness
- Mental Health
- Concepts of Buddhism
- General Essays
Source: An English translation of the Vedas by Ralph T.H. Griffith, 1896.