✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
0230 / 1027

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

Rig Veda · 230 of 1027

Mandala 2: HYMN XXXIX. Aśvins.

1.SING like the two press-stones for this same purpose; come like two misers to the tree of treasure; Like two laud-singing Brahmans in the assembly, like the folk’s envoys called in many places.

2.Moving at morning like two car-borne heroes, like to a pair of goats ye come electing; Like two fair dames embellishing their bodies, like a wise married pair among the people.

3.Like to a pair of horns come first to us-ward, like to a pair of hoofs with rapid motion; Come like two Cakavās in the grey of morning, come like two chariot wheels at dawn, ye Mighty.

4.Bear us across the rivers like two vessels, save us as ye were yokes, naves, spokes and fellies. Be like two dogs that injure not our bodies; preserve us, like two crutches, that we fall not.

5.Like two winds ageing not, two confluent rivers, come with quick vision like two eyes before us. Come like two hands most helpful to the body, and guide us like two feet to what is precious.

6.Even as two lips that with the mouth speak honey, even as two breasts that nourish our existence, Like the two nostrils that protect our being, be to us as our ears that hear distinctly.

7.Like two hands give ye us increasing vigour; like heaven and earth constrain the airy regions. Aśvins, these hymns that struggle to approach you, sharpen ye like an axe upon a whetstone.

8.These prayers of ours exalting you, O Aśvins, have the Gṛtsamadas, for a laud, made ready. Welcome them, O ye Heroes, and come hither. Loud may we speak. with brave men, in assembly.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn repeat pairs—'two'—for the Aśvins so insistently?

The hymn frames the Aśvins as a complementary duo whose rescue arrives in pairs: “like two press-stones,” “like two hands,” “like two breasts.” Each simile names a functional double that sustains, carries, or restores the worshipper, so the repetition builds a catalogue of practical roles the twins perform — guides, healers, vehicles, senses.

This catalogue treats the gods as proximity-tools rather than distant rulers; their pairhood models immediacy and usefulness. The pattern resembles other Vedic twin motifs (compare the Aśvins’ medicine and dawn in Rig Veda Book 1), where pairing signals cooperative, life-preserving power.

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.