Rig Veda

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1.32 The Killing of Vritra

1 Let me now sing the heroic deeds of Indra, the first that the thunderbolt-wielder performed. He killed the dragon and pierced an opening for the waters; he split open the bellies of mountains.

2 He killed the dragon who lay upon the mountain; Tvastr fashioned the roaring thunderbolt for him. Like lowing cows, the flowing waters rushed straight down to the sea.

3 Wildly excited like a bull, he took the Soma for himself and drank the extract from the three bowls in the three-day Soma ceremony. Indra the Generous seized his thunderbolt to hurl it as a weapon; he killed the firstborn of dragons.

4 Indra, when you killed the first-born of dragons and overcame by your own magic the magic of the magicians, at that very moment you brought forth the sun, the sky, and dawn. Since then you have found no enemy to conquer you.

5 With his great weapon, the thunderbolt, Indra killed the shoulderless Vritra, his greatest enemy. Like the trunk of a tree whose branches have been lopped off by an axe, the dragon lies flat upon the ground.

6 For, muddled by drunkenness like one who is no soldier, Vritra challenged the great hero who had overcome the mighty and who drank Soma to the dregs. Unable to withstand the onslaught of his weapons, he found Indra an enemy to conquer him and was shattered, his nose crushed.

7 Without feet or hands he fought against Indra, who struck him on the nape of the neck with his thunderbolt. The steer who wished to become the equal of the bull bursting with seed, Vritra lay broken in many places.

8 Over him as he lay there like a broken reed the swelling waters flowed for man. Those waters that Vritra had enclosed with his power—the dragon now lay at their feet.

9 The vital energy of Vritra’s mother ebbed away, for Indra had hurled his deadly weapon at her. Above was the mother, below was the son; Danu lay down like a cow with her calf.

10 In the midst of the channels of the waters which never stood still or rested, the body was hidden. The waters now over Vritra’s secret place; he who found Indra an enemy to conquer him sank into long darkness.

11 The waters who had the Dasa for their husband, the dragon for their protector, were imprisoned like the cows imprisoned by the Panis. When he killed Vritra he split open the outlet of the waters that had been closed.

12 Indra, you became a hair of a horse’s tail when Vritra struck you on the corner of the mouth. You, the one god, the brave one, you won the cows; you won the Soma; you released the seven streams so that they could flow.

13 No use was the lightning and thunder, fog and hail that he had scattered about, when the dragon and Indra fought. Indra the Generous remained victorious for all time to come.

14 What avenger of the dragon did you see, Indra, that fear entered your heart when you had killed him? Then you crossed the ninety-nine streams like the frightened eagle crossing the realms of earth and air.

15 Indra, who wields the thunderbolt in his hand, is the king of that which moves and that which rests, of the tame and of the horned. He rules the people as their king, encircling all this as a rim encircles spokes.

1.154 The Three Strides of Vishnu

1 Let me now sing the heroic deeds of Vishnu, who has measured apart the realms of earth, who propped up the upper dwelling-place, striding far as he stepped forth three times.

2 They praise for his heroic deeds Vishnu who lurks in the mountains, wandering like a ferocious wild beast, in whose three wide strides all creatures dwell.

3 Let this song of inspiration go forth to Vishnu, the wide-striding bull who lives in the mountains, who alone with but three steps measured apart this long, far-reaching dwelling-place.

4 His three footprints, inexhaustibly full of honey, rejoice in the sacrificial drink. Alone, he supports threefold the earth and the sky—all creatures.

5 Would that I might reach his dear place of refuge, where men who love the gods rejoice. For there one draws close to the wide-striding Vishnu; there, in his highest footstep, is the fountain of honey.

6 We wish to go to your dwelling-places, where there are untiring, many-horned cattle. There the highest footstep of the wide-stepping bull shines brightly down.

1.162 The Sacrifice of the Horse

1 Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman the Active, Indra the ruler of the Rbhus, and the Maruts—let them not fail to heed us when we proclaim in the assembly the heroic deeds of the racehorse who was born of the gods.

2 When they lead the firmly grasped offering in front of the horse that is covered with cloths and heirlooms, the dappled goat goes bleating straight to the dear dwelling of Indra and Pushan.

3 This goat for all the gods is led forward with the race-horse as the share for Pushan. When they lead forth the welcome offering with the charger, Tvastr urges him on to great fame.

4 When, as the ritual law ordains, the men circle three times, leading the horse that is to be the oblation on the path to the gods, the goat who is the share for Pushan goes first, announcing the sacrifice to the gods.

5 The Invoker, the officiating priest, the atoner, the fire-kindler, the holder of the pressing-stones, the reciter, the priest who prays—fill your bellies with this well-prepared, well-sacrificed sacrifice.

6 The hewers of the sacrificial stake and those who carry it, and those who carve the knob for the horse’s sacrificial stake, and those who gather together the things to cook the charger—let their approval encourage us.

7 The horse with his smooth back went forth into the fields of the gods, just when I made my prayer. The inspired sages exult in him. We have made him a welcome companion at the banquet of the gods.

8 The charger’s rope and halter, the reins and bridle on his head, and even the grass that has been brought up to his mouth—let all of that stay with you even among the gods.

9 Whatever of the horse’s flesh the fly has eaten, or whatever stays stuck to the stake or the axe, or to the hands or nails of the slaughterer—let all of that stay with you even among the gods.

10 Whatever food remains in his stomach, sending forth gas, or whatever smell there is from his raw flesh let the slaughterers make that well done; let them cook the sacrificial animal until he is perfectly cooked.

11 Whatever runs off your body when it has been placed on the spit and roasted by the fire, let it not lie there in the earth or on the grass, but let it be given to the gods who long for it.

12 Those who see that the racehorse is cooked, who say, “It smells good! Take it away!,” and who wait for the doling out of the flesh of the charger—let their approval encourage us.

13 The testing fork for the cauldron that cooks the flesh, the pots for pouring the broth, the cover of the bowls to keep it warm, the hooks, the dishes—all these attend the horse.

14 The place where he walks, where he rests, where he rolls, and the fetters on the horse’s feet, and what he has drunk and the fodder he has eaten—let all of that stay with you even among the gods.

15 Let not the fire that reeks of smoke darken you, nor the red-hot cauldron split into pieces. The gods receive the horse who has been sacrificed, worshipped, consecrated, and sanctified with the cry of “Vasatl.”

16 The cloth that they spread beneath the horse, the upper covering, the golden trappings on him, the halter and the fetters on his feet—let these things that are his own bind the horse among the gods.

17 If someone riding you has struck you too hard with heel or whip when you shied, I make all these things well again for you with prayer, as they do with the oblation’s ladle in sacrifices.

18 The axe cuts through the thirty-four ribs of the racehorse who is the companion of the gods. Keep the limbs undamaged and place them in the proper pattern. Cut them apart, calling out piece by piece.

19 One is the slaughterer of the horse of Tvastr; two restrain him. This is the rule. As many of your limbs as I set out, according to the rules, so many balls I offer into the fire.

20 Let not your dear soul burn you as you go away. Let not the axe do lasting harm to your body. Let no greedy, clumsy slaughterer hack in the wrong place and damage your limbs with his knife.

21 You do not really die through this, nor are you harmed. You go to the gods on paths pleasant to go on. The two bay stallions, the two roan mares are now your chariot mates. The racehorse has been set in the donkey’s yoke.

22 Let this racehorse bring us good cattle and good horses, male children and all-nourishing wealth. Let Aditi make us free from sin. Let the horse with our offerings achieve sovereign power for us.

1.164 The Riddle of Sacrifice

1 This beloved grey priest has a middle brother who is hungry and a third brother with butter on his back. In him I saw the Lord of All Tribes with his seven sons.

2 Seven yoke the one-wheeled chariot drawn by one horse with seven names. All these creatures rest on the age-less and unstoppable wheel with three naves.

3 Seven horses draw the seven who ride on this seven-wheeled chariot. Seven sisters call out to the place where the seven names of the cows are hidden.

4 Who saw the newborn one, the one with bones who was brought forth by the boneless one? Where was the breath and blood and soul of the earth? Who can go to ask this from someone who knows ?

5 An ignorant fool, I ask in my mind about the hidden footprints of the gods. Over the young calf the poets stretched out seven threads to weave.

6 Unknowing, ignorant, I ask for knowledge about it from the poets who know: What is the One who in the form of the unborn propped apart these six realms of space?

7 Let him who really knows proclaim here the hidden place of that beloved bird. The cows give milk from his head; wearing a cloak, they drank water with their feet.

8 The mother gave the father a share in accordance with the Order, for at the beginning she embraced him with mind and heart. Recoiling, she was pierced and flowed with the seed of the embryo. The reverent came to praise.

9 The mother was harnessed to the chariot pole of the priest’s cow; the embryo remained within the cowpens. The calf lowed and looked for the many-coloured cow on the three stages of the journey.

10 The One has risen up, holding up three mothers and three fathers, who never wear him down. On the back of the distant sky they speak of Speech, who knows all but does not move all.

11 The twelve-spoked wheel of Order rolls around and around the sky and never ages. Seven hundred and twenty sons in pairs rest on it, O Agni.

12 Some say that the father with his five feet and twelve shapes dwells in his fullness in the farther half of the sky. But others here say that the far-seeing one in the seven-wheeled, six-spoked chariot moves in the near half.

13 All the worlds rest on this five-spoked wheel that rolls around and around. Though heavy-laden, its axle does not get hot, nor has it ever broken in its naves.

14 The unageing wheel rolls out on its rim; the ten yoked horses draw it up the outstretched path. All the worlds are kept in motion on the eye of the sun, that moves on though shrouded in dark space.

15 They say that besides those born in pairs there is a seventh born alone, while the six sets of twins are the sages born from the gods. The sacrifices for them are firmly set, but they change their forms and waver as he stands firm.

16 They are female, but people tell me they are male. He who has eyes sees this, but the blind one does not understand. The poet who is his son has understood this well; the one who knows it would be his father’s father.

17 Beneath what is above, and above what is beneath, the cow went upward, holding her calf by the foot. In what direction and to what half of the sky has she gone away? Where did she give birth? Not within the herd.

18 Whoever here knows his father beneath what is above and above what is beneath—who with such mystical insight can here proclaim the source from which the mind of god was born?

19 Those that are in the future they say are in the past; those that are in the past they say are in the future. The things that you and Indra did, Soma, still pull the axle pole of space as though yoked to it.

20 Two birds, friends joined together, clutch the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit; the other looks on without eating.

21 Where the birds sing unblinkingly about their share of immortality among the wise, there the mighty herdsman of the whole world, the wise one, entered me, the fool.

22 The birds that eat honey nest and brood on that tree on whose tip, they say, is the sweet fruit. No one who does not know the father eats that.

23 Only those gain immortality who know that the Gayatri foot is based on the Gayatri hymn, or that the Tristubh foot is made from the Tristubh hymn, or that the Jagat foot is based on the Jagat hymn.

24 With the Gayatri foot they fashion a hymn; with the hymn, a chant; with the Tristubh foot a strophe; with the strophe of two feet or four feet they fashion a speech. With the syllable they fashion the seven tones.

25 With the Jagat he fixed the stream in the sky. In the Rathantara chant he discovered the sun. They say the Gayatri has three kindling-sticks, and so its power and magnificence excels.

26 I call to the cow who is easy to milk, so that the milker with clever hands may milk her. Let Savitr inspire us with the finest vigour. The pot of milk is set on the fire—this is what I would happily proclaim.

27 The mistress of riches has come, snuffling and longing in her heart for her calf. Let this cow give milk for the Asvins and grow greater for good fortune.

28 The cow has lowed at her blinking calf, snuffling at his head to make him low. Longing for his warm mouth, she lows and swells with milk.

29 The one that encloses the cow hums; she that is set over the spluttering flame lows. With her hissing she has put down the mortal; becoming lightning, she has thrown off the cloak.

30 Life that breathes now lies still and yet moves fast, rushing but firmly fixed in the midst of the resting places. The life of the dead one wanders as his nature wills. The immortal comes from the same womb as the mortal.

31 I have seen the cowherd who never tires, moving to and fro along the paths. Clothing himself in those that move toward the same centre but spread apart, he rolls on and on inside the worlds.

32 He who made him knows nothing of him. He who saw him—he vanishes from him. Enclosed within the mother’s womb, yet full of progeny, he entered Destruction.

33 The sky is my father; here is the navel that gave me birth. This great earth is my mother, my close kin. The womb for me was between the two bowls stretched apart; here the father placed the embryo in the daughter.

34 I ask you about the farthest end of the earth; I ask you about the navel of the universe. I ask you about the semen of the stallion bursting with seed; I ask you about the final abode of Speech.

35 This altar is the farthest end of the earth; this sacrifice is the navel of the universe. This Soma is the semen of the stallion bursting with seed; this Brahmin priest is the final abode of Speech.

36 The seven half-embryos portion out the semen of the world at Vishnu’s command. Wise in their thoughts and their heart, themselves surrounded, they surround it on all sides.

37 I do not know just what it is that I am like. I wander about concealed and wrapped in thought. When the first born of Order came to me, I won a share of this Speech.

38 The one who is compelled as his own nature wills goes away and comes back; the immortal came from the same womb as the mortal. The two constantly move in opposite directions; when people perceive the one, they do not perceive the other.

39 The undying syllable of the song is the final abode where all the gods have taken their seat. What can one who does not know this do with the song ? Only those who know it sit together here.

40 Be happy eating good fodder, and then we will be happy too. O inviolable cow, eat grass and drink pure water as you graze for ever.

41 The buffalo-cow lowed as she fashioned the flowing waters; she who has a thousand syllables in the final abode became one-footed, two-footed, eight-footed, nine-footed.

42 The quarters of the sky live on the oceans that flow out of her in all directions. The whole universe exists through the undying syllable that flows from her.

43 In the distance I saw the cowdung smoke midway between what is above and what is below. The heroes roasted the dappled bull. These were the first ritual laws.

44 The three long-haired ones reveal themselves at the right moment. During the year, one of them shaves; one looks upon everything with his powers; of one the onrush is visible, but the form is not.

45 Speech was divided into four parts that the inspired priests know. Three parts, hidden in deep secret, humans do not stir into action; the fourth part of Speech is what men speak.

46 They call it Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and it is the heavenly bird that flies. The wise speak of what is One in many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.

47 The yellow birds clothed in waters fly up to the sky on the dark path. They have now returned from the home of Order, and at once the earth was drenched with butter.

48 Twelve fellies, one wheel, three naves—who has understood this? Three hundred and sixty are set on it like poles that do not loosen.

49 Your inexhaustible breast, Sarasvati, that flows with the food of life, that you use to nourish all that one could wish for, freely giving treasure and wealth and beautiful gifts—bring that here for us to suck.

50 The gods sacrificed to the sacrifice with the sacrifice. These became the first ritual laws. These great powers went to the dome of heaven where dwell the Sadhyas, the ancient gods.

51 The same water travels up and down day after day. While the rain-clouds enliven the earth, the flames enliven the sky.

52 The great heavenly bird with wonderful wings, the beautiful embryo of the waters and the plants, that delights us with rains overflowing—I call to him for help.

7.104 The Demons in Hell

1 Indra and Soma, burn the demon and crush him; bulls, hurl down those who thrive on darkness. Shatter those who lack good thoughts; scorch them, kill, drive out, cut down the devourers.

2 Indra and Soma, let evil heat boil up around him who plots evil, like a pot set on a fire. Set unrelenting hatred against the fiend, the flesh-eating Brahmin-hater with the evil eye.

3 Indra and Soma, pierce the evil-doers and hurl them into the pit, the bottomless darkness, so that not a single one will come up from there again. Let this furious rage of yours overpower them.

4 Indra and Soma, together roll the shattering weapon from the sky, from the earth, upon the one who plots evil. Carve out of the mountains the hissing thing with which you burn down the demon who thrives.

5 Indra and Soma, roll it from the sky. With unageing weapons of heat that burn like fire and strike like stone pierce the devourers and hurl them into the abyss. Let them go into silence.

6 Indra and Soma, let this prayer embrace you all around like the girth around two prize-winning horses. Like a pair of princes, urge on these prayers, this invocation that I send to you by meditation.

7 Plot against them. Swooping down swiftly, kill the demons who hate us and would break us to bits. Indra and Soma, let nothing good happen to the evil-doer who has ever tried to injure me with his hatred.

8 Whoever has spoken against me with false words when I was acting with a pure heart, O Indra let him become nothing even as he talks about nothing, like water grasped in one’s fist.

9 Those who casually seduce the man of pure heart or wilfully make the good man bad, let Soma deliver them over to the serpent, or let him set them in the lap of Destruction.

10 Agni, whoever wants to injure the sap of our drink, of our horses, of our cows, of our own bodies, he is our enemy, a thief and a robber; let him fall upon hard times; let him perish with his own body and his offspring.

11 Let him with his own body and his offspring be beyond, let him be below all three earths. Gods, dry up the glory of the one who wants to injure us by day or by night.

12 For the clever man it is easy to distinguish: true and false words fight against one another. Soma favours the one of them that is true, that is straight; he kills the false.

13 Surely Soma does not push forward the one who is dishonest, nor the ruler who holds power falsely. He kills the demon, he kills the one who speaks lies. Both of these lie in Indra’s snare.

14 As if I worshipped false gods, or considered the gods useless—why, Agni knower of creatures, why are you angry with us? Gather into your destruction those who speak hateful words.

15 Let me die at once if I am a sorcerer, or if I have burnt up a man’s span of life. Let the one who falsely calls me a sorcerer be cut off from ten heroes.

16 The one who calls me a sorcerer, though I am not a sorcerer, or the one who says he is pure, though he is demonic—let Indra strike him with his great weapon. Let him fall to the lowest depths under all creation.

17 She who ranges about at night like an owl, hiding her body in a hateful disguise, let her fall into the endless pits. Let the pressing-stones slay the demons with their rumblings.

18 Maruts, scatter yourselves among all the peoples. Seek out, grab, and crush the demons who become birds and fly about at night, the ones who have injured the sacrifice of the gods.

19 Roll the stone from the sky, generous Indra. Sharpen it completely when Soma has sharpened it. From in front, from behind, from below, from above, strike the demons with the mountain.

20 There they go! The dog-sorcerers are flying away. Viciously they wish to harm Indra, who cannot be harmed. Indra sharpens his weapon against the slanderers. Now let him loose his bolt at the sorcerers.

21 Indra shattered the sorcerers who snatched away the oblation and waylaid him. Indra splits them as an axe splits a tree, bursting apart the demons as if they were clay pots.

22 Kill the owl-sorcerer, the owlet-sorcerer, the dog-sorcerer, the cuckoo-sorcerer, the eagle-sorcerer, the vulture-sorcerer. Indra, crush the demon to powder as if with a millstone.

23 Do not let the demon of the sorcerers get close to us. Let the light blot out the fiends who work in couples. Let the earth protect us from earthly anguish, and the middle realm of space protect us from the anguish of the sky.

24 Indra, kill the male sorcerer and the female who deceives by her power of illusion. Let the idol-worshippers sink down with broken necks; let them never see the rising sun.

25 Look here, look there, Indra and Soma; stay awake! Hurl the weapon at the demons; hurl the thunderbolt at the sorcerers!

10.90 The Hymn of the Cosmic Man

1 The Man has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. He pervaded the earth on all sides and extended beyond it as far as ten fingers.

2 It is the Man who is all this, whatever has been and whatever is to be. He is the ruler of immortality, when he grows beyond everything through food.

3 Such is his greatness, and the Man is yet more than this. All creatures are a quarter of him; three quarters are what is immortal in heaven.

4 With three quarters the Man rose upwards, and one quarter of him still remains here. From this he spread out in all directions, into that which eats and that which does not eat.

5 From him Viraj was born, and from Viraj came the Man. When he was born, he ranged beyond the earth behind and before.

6 When the gods spread the sacrifice with the Man as the offering, spring was the clarified butter, summer the fuel, autumn the oblation.

7 They anointed the Man, the sacrifice born at the beginning, upon the sacred grass. With him the gods, Sadhyas, and sages sacrificed.

8 From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the melted fat was collected, and he made it into those beasts who live in the air, in the forest, and in villages.

9 From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the verses and chants were born, the metres were born from it, and from it the formulas were born.

10 Horses were born from it, and those other animals that have two rows of teeth; cows were born from it, and from it goats and sheep were born.

11 When they divided the Man, into how many parts did they apportion him? What do they call his mouth, his two arms and thighs and feet?

12 His mouth became the Brahmin; his arms were made into the Warrior, his thighs the People, and from his feet the Servants were born.

13 The moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born. Indra and Agni came from his mouth, and from his vital breath the Wind was born.

14 From his navel the middle realm of space arose; from his head the sky evolved. From his two feet came the earth, and the quarters of the sky from his ear. Thus they set the worlds in order.

15 There were seven enclosing-sticks for him, and thrice seven fuel-sticks, when the gods, spreading the sacrifice, bound the Man as the sacrificial beast.

16 With the sacrifice the gods sacrificed to the sacrifice. These were the first ritual laws. These very powers reached the dome of the sky where dwell the Sadhyas, the ancient gods.

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Reprinted from The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred and Eight Hymns, selected, translated and annotated by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty (London: Penguin Classics, 1981). Copyright © Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, 1981. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

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Source: The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred and Eight Hymns, selected, translated and annotated by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty. London: Penguin Classics, 1981. Reprinted with permission of Penguin Books Ltd.