
The Rig Veda, Book 1, Verses 41 to 50

HYMN XLI. Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman.
1 NE'ER is he injured whom the Gods Varuna, Mitra,
Aryaman,
The excellently wise, protect.
2 He prospers
ever, free from scathe, whom they, as with full hands, enrich,
Whom they preserve from every foe.
3 The Kings drive far
away from him his troubles and his enemies,
And lead him
safely o'er distress.
4 Thornless, Adityas, is the path,
easy for him who seeks the Law:
With him is naught to anger
you.
5 What sacrifice, Adityas, ye Heroes guide by the path
direct,-
May that come nigh unto your thought.
6 That
mortal, ever unsubdued, gains wealth and every precious thing,
And children also of his own.
7 How, my friends, shall we
prepare Aryaman's and Mitra's laud,
Glorious food of Varuna?
8 I point not out to you a man who strikes the pious, or reviles:
Only with hymns I call you nigh.
9 Let him not love to speak
ill words: but fear the One who holds all four
Within his
hand, until they fall.
HYMN XLII. Pusan.
I SHORTEN our ways, O Pusan, move aside obstruction
in the path:
Go close before us, cloud-born God.
2 Drive,
Pusan, from our road the wolf, the wicked inauspicious wolf,
Who lies in Wait to injure us.
3 Who lurks about the path
we take, the robber with a guileful heart:
Far from the road
chase him away.
4 Tread with thy foot and trample out the
firebrand of the wicked one,
The double-tongued, whoe'er
he be.
5 Wise Pusan, Wonder-Worker, we claim of thee now
the aid wherewith
Thou furtheredst our sires of old.
6
So, Lord of all prosperity, best wielder of the golden sword,
Make riches easy to be won.
7 Past all pursuers lead us,
make pleasant our path and fair to tread:
O Pusan, find thou
power for this.
8 Lead us to meadows rich in grass: send
on our way no early heat:
O Pusan, find thou power for this.
9 Be gracious to us, fill us full, give, feed us, and invigorate:
O Pusan, find thou power for this.
10 No blame have we for
Pusan; him we magnify with songs of praise:
We seek the Mighty
One for wealth.
HYMN XLIII. Rudra.
1 WHAT shall we sing to Rudra, strong, most bounteous,
excellently wise,
That shall be dearest to his heart?
2 That Aditi may grant the grace of Rudra to our folk, our kine,
Our cattle and our progeny;
3 That Mitra and that Varuna,
that Rudra may remember us,
Yea, all the Gods with one accord.
4 To Rudra Lord of sacrifice, of hymns and balmy medicines,
We pray for joy and health and strength.
5 He shines in splendour
like the Sun, refulgent as bright gold is he,
The good, the
best among the Gods.
6 May he grant health into our steeds,
wellbeing to our rams and ewes,
To men, to women, and to
kine.
7 O Soma, set thou upon us the glory of a hundred men,
The great renown of mighty chiefs.
8 Let not malignities,
nor those who trouble Soma, hinder us.
Indu, give us a share
of strength.
9 Soma! head, central point, love these; Soma!
know these as serving thee,
Children of thee Immortal, at
the highest place of holy law.
HYMN XLIV. Agni.
I IMMORTAL Jatavedas, thou many-hued fulgent
gift of Dawn,
Agni, this day to him who pays oblations bring
the Gods who waken with the morn.
2 For thou art offering-bearer
and loved messenger, the charioteer of sacrifice:
Accordant
with the Asvins and with Dawn grant us heroic strength and lofty
fame.
3 As messenger we choose to-day Agni the good whom
many love,
Smoke-bannered spreader of the light, at break
of day glory of sacrificial rites.
4 Him noblest and most
youthful, richly worshipped guest, dear to the men who offer
gifts,
Him, Agni Jatavedas, I beseech at dawn that he may
bring the Gods to us.
5 Thee, Agni, will I glorify, deathless
nourisher of the world,
Immortal, offering-bearer, meet for
sacred food, preserver, best at sacrifice.
6 Tell good things
to thy praiser, O most youthful God, as richly worshipped, honey-tongued,
And, granting to Praskanva lengthened days of life, show honour
to the Heavenly Host.
7 For the men, Agni, kindle thee as
all possessor and as Priest;
So Agni, much-invoked, bring
hither with all speed the Gods, the excellently wise,
8 At
dawn of day, at night, Usas and Savitar, the Asvins, Bhaga,
Agni's self:
Skilled in fair rites, with Soma poured, the
Kanvas light thee, the oblation-wafting God.
9 For, Agni,
Lord of sacrifice and messenger of men art thou:
Bring thou
the Gods who wake at dawn who see the light, this day to drink
the Soma juice.
10 Thou shonest forth, O Agni, after former
dawns, all visible, O rich in light.
Thou art our help in
battle-strife, the Friend of inan, the great high priest in
sacrifice.
11 Like Manu, we will stablish thee, Agni, performer
of the rite,
Invoker, ministering Priest, exceeding wise,
the swift immortal messenger.
12 When as the Gods' High Priest,
by many loved, thou dost their mission as their nearest Friend,
Then, like the far-resounding billows of the flood, thy flames,
O Agni, roar aloud.
13 Heat-, Agni, who hast ears to hear,
with all thy train of escort Gods;
Let Mitra, Aryaman,- seeking
betimes our rite, seat them upon the sacred grass.
14 Let
those who strengthen Law, who bountiUly give, the life-tongued
Maruts, hear our praise.
May Law-supporting Varuna with the
Asvins twain and Usas, drink the Soma juice.
HYMN XLV Agni.
I WORSHIP the Vasus, Agni! here, the Rudras,
the Adityas, all
Who spring from Manu, those who know fair
rites, who pour their blessings down.
2 Agni, the Gods who
understand give ear unto the worshipper:
Lord of Red Steeds,
who lovest song, bring thou those Three-and-Thirty Gods.
3 O Jatavedas, great in act, hearken thou to Praskanva's call,
As Priyamedha erst was heard, Atri, Virupa, Angiras.
4 The
sons of Priyamedha skilled in lofty praise have called for help
On Agni who with fulgent flame is Ruler of all holy rites.
5 Hear thou, invoked withholy oil, bountiful giver of rewards,
These eulogies, whereby the sons of Kanva call thee to their
aid.
6 O Agni, loved by many, thou of fame most wondrous,
in their homes
Men call on thee whose hair is flame, to be
the bearer of their gifts.
7 Thee, Agni, best to find out
wealth, most widely famous, quick to hear,
Singers have stablished
in their rites Herald and ministering Priest.
8 Singers with
Soma pressed have made thee, Agni, hasten to the feast,
Great
light to mortal worshipper, what time they bring the sacred
gift.
9 Good, bounteous, Son of Strength, this day seat here
on sacred grass the Gods
Who come at early morn, the host
of heaven, to drink the Soma juice
10 Bring with joint invocations
thou, O Agni, the celestial host:
Here stands the Soma, bounteous
Gods drink this expressed ere yesterday.
HYMN XLVI. Asvins.
1 Now Morning with her earliest light shines
forth, dear Daughter of the Sky:
High, Asvins, I extol your
praise,
2 Sons of the Sea, mighty to save discoverers of
riches, ye
Gods with deep thought who find out wealth.
3 Your giant coursers hasten on over the region all in flames,
-
When your car flies with winged steeds.
4 He, liberal,
lover of the flood, Lord of the House, the vigilant,
Chiefs!
with oblations feeds you full.
5 Ye have regard unto our
hymns, Nasatyas, thinking of our words:
Drink boldly of the
Soma juice.
6 Vouchsafe to us, O Asvin Pair, such strength
as, with attendant light,
May through the darkness carry
us.
7 Come in the ship of these our hymns to bear you to
the hither shore
O Asvins, harness ye the car.
8 The heaven's
wide vessel is your own on the flood's shore your chariot waits
Drops, with the hymn, have been prepared.
9 Kanvas, the drops
are in the heaven; the wealth is at the waters' place:
Where
will ye manifest your form?
10 Light came to lighten up the
branch, the Sun appeared as it were gold:
And with its-tongue
shone forth the dark.
11 The path of sacrifice was made to
travel to the farther goal:
The road of heaven was manifest.
12 The singer of their praise awaits whatever grace the Asvins
give,
who save when Soma gladdens them.
13 Ye dwellers
with Vivasvan come, auspicious, as to Manu erst;
come to
the Soma and our praise.
14 O circumambient Asvins, Dawn
follows the brightness of your way:
Approve with beams our
solemn rites.
15 Drink ye of our libations, grant protection,
O ye Asvins Twain,
With aids which none may interrupt.
HYMN XLVlI. Asvins.
1 ASVINS, for you who strengthen Law this sweetest
Soma hath been shed.
Drink this expressed ere yesterday and
give riches to him who offers it.
2 Come, O ye Asvins, mounted
on your triple car three-seated, beautiful of form
To you
at sacrifice the Kanvas send the prayer: graciously listen to
their call.
3 O Asvins, ye who strengthen Law, drink ye this
sweetest Soma juice.
Borne on your wealth-fraught car come
ye this day to him who offers, ye of wondrous deeds.
4 Omniscient
Asvins, on the thrice-heaped grass bedew with the sweet juice
the sacrifice.
The sons of Kanva, striving heavenward, call
on you with draughts of Soma juice out-poured.
5 O Asvins,
with those aids wherewith ye guarded Kanva carefully,
Keep
us, O hords of Splendour: drink the Soma juice, ye strengtheners
of holy law.
6 O Mighty Ones, ye gave Sudas abundant food,
brought on your treasure-laden car;
So now vouchsafe to us
the wealth which many crave, either from heaven or from the
sea.
7 Nasatyas, whether ye be far away or close to Turvasa,
Borne on your lightly-rolling chariot come to us, together with
the sunbeams come.
8 So let your coursers, ornaments of sacrifice,
bring you to our libations here.
Bestowing food on him who
acts and gives aright, sit, Chiefs, upon the sacred grass.
9 Come, O Nasatyas, on your car decked with a sunbright canopy,
Whereon ye ever bring wealth to the worshipper, to drink the
Soma's pleasant juice.
10 With lauds and songs of praise
we call them down to us, that they, most rich, may succour us;
For ye have ever in the Kanvas' well-loved house, O Asvins,
drunk the Soma juice.
HYMN XLVIII. Dawn.
1 DAWN on us with prosperity, O Usas, Daughter
of the Sky,
Dawn with great glory, Goddess, Lady of the Light,
dawn thou with riches, Bounteous One.
2 They, bringing steeds
and kine, boon-givers of all wealth, have oft sped forth to
lighten us.
O Usas, waken up for me the sounds of joy: send
us the riches of the great.
3 Usas hath dawned, and now shall
dawn, the Goddess, driver forth of cars
Which, as she cometh
nigh, have fixed their thought on her, like glory-seekers on
the flood.
4 Here Kanva, chief of Kanva's race, sings forth
aloud the glories of the heroes' names,-
The. princes who,
O Usas, as thou comest near, direct their thoughts to liberal
gifts.
5 Like a good matron Usas comes carefully tending
everything:
Rousing all life she stirs all creatures that
have feet, and makes the birds of air fly up.
6 She sends
the busy forth, each man to his pursuit: delay she knows not
as she springs.
O rich in opulence, after thy dawning birds
that have flown forth no longer rest.
7 This Dawn hath yoked
her steeds afar, beyond the rising of the Sun:
Borne on a
hundred chariots she, auspicious Dawn, advances on her way to
Men.
8 To meet her glance all living creatures bend them
down: Excellent One, she makes the light.
Usas, the Daughter
of the Sky, the opulent, shines foes and enmities away.
9
Shine on us with thy radiant light, O Usas, Daughter of the
Sky,
Bringing to us great store of high felicity, and bearning
on our solemn rites.
10 For in thee is each living creature's
breath and life, when, Excellent! thou dawnest forth.
Borne
on thy lofty car, O Lady of the Light, hear, thou of wondrous
wealth, our call.
11 O Usas, win thyself the strength which
among men is wonderful.
Bring thou thereby the pious unto
holy rites, those who as priests sing praise to thee.
12
Bring from the firmament, O Usas, all the Gods, that they may
drink our Soma juice,
And, being what thou art, vouchsafe
us kine and steeds, strength meet for praist and hero might.
13 May Usas whose auspicious rays are seen resplendent round
about,
Grant us great riches, fair in form, of all good things,
wealth which light labour may attain.
14 Mighty One, whom
the Rsis of old time invoked for their protection and their
help,
O Usas, graciously answer our songs of praise with
bounty and with brilliant
light.
15 Usas, as thou with
light to day hast opened the twin doors of heaven,
So grant
thou us a dwelling wide and free from foes. O Goddess, give
us food with kine.
16 Bring us to wealth abundant, sent in
every shape, to plentiful refreshing food,
To all-subduing
splendour, Usas, Mighty One, to strength, thou rich in spoil
and wealth.
HYMN XLIX. Dawn.
1 E'EN from above the sky's bright realm come,
Usas, by auspicious ways:
Let red steeds bear thee to the
house of him who pours the Soma, juice.
2 The chariot which
thou mountest, fair of shape, O Usas light to move,-
Therewith,
O Daughter of the Sky, aid men of noble fame today.
3 Bright
Usas, when thy times return, all quadrupeds and bipeds stir,
And round about flock winged birds from all theboundaries of
heaven.
4 Thou dawning with thy beams of light illumest all
the radiant realm.
Thee, as thou art, the Kanvas, fain for
wealth, have called with sacred songs.
HYMN L. Surya.
1 HIS bright rays bear him up aloft, the God
who knoweth all that lives,
Surya, that all may look on him.
2 The constellations pass away, like thieves, together with
their beams,
Before the all-beholding Sun'
3 His herald
rays are seen afar refulgent o'er the world of men,
Like
flames of fire that burn and blaze.
4 Swift and all beautiful
art thou, O Surya, maker of the light,
Illuming all the radiant
realm.
5 Thou goest to the hosts of Gods, thou comest hither
to mankind,
Hither all light to be belield.
6 With that
same eye of thine wherewith thou lookest brilliant Varuna,
Upon the busy race of men,
7 Traversing sky and wide mid-air,
thou metest with thy beams our days,
Sun, seeing all things
that have birth.
8 Seven Bay Steeds harnessed to thy car
bear thee, O thou farseeing One,
God, Surya, with the radiant
hair.
9 Surya hath yoked the pure bright Seven, the daughters
of the car; with these,
His own dear team, he goeth forth.
10 Looking upon the loftier light above the darkness we have
come
To Surya, God among the Gods, the light that is most
excellent.
11 Rising this day, O rich in friends, ascending
to the loftier heaven,
Surya remove my heart's disease, take
from me this my yellow hue.
12 To parrots and to starlings
let us give away my yellowness,
Or this my yellowness let
us transfer to Haritala trees.
13 With all his conquering
vigour this Aditya hath gone up on high,
Giving my foe into
mine hand: let me not be my foeman's prey.
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.