HYMN XXIV. Varuṇa and Others.

Rig Veda, tr. by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1896], at sacred-texts.com

HYMN XXIV. Varuṇa and Others.

1 WHO now is he, what God among Immortals, of whose auspicious name we may bethink us?
Who shall to mighty Aditi restore us, that I may see my Father and my Mother?
2 Agni the God the first among the Immortals,—of his auspicious name let us bethink us.
He shall to mighty Aditi restore us, that I may see my Father and my Mother.
3 To thee, O Savitar, the Lord of precious things, who helpest us
Continually, for our share we come—
4 Wealth, highly lauded ere reproach hath fallen on it, which is laid,
Free from all hatred, in thy hands
5 Through thy protection may we come to even the height of affluence
Which Bhaga hath dealt out to us.
6 Ne’er have those birds that fly through air attained to thy high dominion or thy might or spirit;
Nor these the waters that flow on for ever, nor hills, abaters of the wind's wild fury.
7 Varuṇa, King, of hallowed might, sustaineth erect the Tree's stem in the baseless region.
Its rays, whose root is high above, stream downward. Deep may they sink within us, and be hidden.
8 King Varuṇa hath made a spacious pathway, a pathway for the Sun wherein to travel.
Where no way was he made him set his footstep, and warned afar whate’er afflicts the spirit.
9 A hundred balms are thine, O King, a thousand; deep and wide-reaching also be thy favours.
Far from us, far away drive thou Destruction. Put from us e’en the sin we have committed.
10 Whither by day depart the constellations that shine at night, set high in heaven above us?
Varuṇa's holy laws remain unweakened, and through the night the Moon moves on in splendor
11 I ask this of thee with my prayer adoring; thy worshipper craves this with his oblation.
Varuṇa, stay thou here and be not angry; steal not our life from us, O thou Wide-Ruler.
12 Nightly and daily this one thing they tell me, this too the thought of mine own heart repeateth.
May he to whom prayed fettered Śunaḥśepa, may he the Sovran Varuṇa release us.
13 Bound to three pillars captured Śunaḥśepa thus to the Āditya made his supplication.
Him may the Sovran Varuṇa deliver, wise, ne’er deceived, loosen the bonds that bind him.
14 With bending down, oblations, sacrifices, O Varuṇa, we deprecate thine anger:
Wise Asura, thou King of wide dominion, loosen the bonds of sins by us committed.
15 Loosen the bonds, O Varuṇa, that hold me, loosen the bonds above, between, and under.
So in thy holy law may we made sinless belong to Aditi, O thou Āditya.