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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 182 of 1027

Mandala 1: HYMN CLXXXII. Aśvins.

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 Viśpalā, here are Heaven’s Sons whose sway blesses the pious man.

2.Longed for, most Indra-like, mighty, most Marut-like, most wonderful in deed, car-borne, best charioteers, Bring your full chariot hither heaped with liquid sweet: thereon, ye Aśvins, 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 Aśvins this ye understand. Make wealthy every word of him who praises you: accept with favour, both Nāsatyas, 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 Aśvins, 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, Aśvins, bore him off safely to your renown.

8.Welcome to you be this the hymn of praises uttered by Mānas, O Nāsatyas, Heroes, From this our gathering where we offer Soma. May we find strengthening food in full abundance.

Asked of Guide

Why do the Aśvins rescue Tugra's son from the sea in this hymn?

The hymn says the Aśvins act as swift saviours who ‘‘brought him forth, and fled with easy flight from out the mighty surge,’’ rescuing Tugra’s son from drowning and carrying him on ships ‘‘urged by the Aśvins.’’ They are invoked as prompt, chariot-borne helpers who restore life and prosperity to those in danger and to the praise-singer who calls them.

The poets present the rescue as an index of the Aśvins’ role: healers and benefactors who ‘‘make wealthy every word of him who praises you’’ and grant abundance at Soma. This episode matches the Rigveda’s wider portrait of the Aśvins in later hymns and in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, where they repeatedly deliver people from death and bring beneficial gains.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.