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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 323 of 1027

Mandala 4: HYMN XXVII. The Falcon.

1.I, As I lay within the womb, considered all generations of these Gods in order. A hundred iron fortresses confined me but forth I flew with rapid speed a Falcon.

2.Not at his own free pleasure did he bear me: he conquered with his strength and manly courage. Straightway the Bold One left the fiends behind him and passed the winds as he grew yet more mighty.

3.When with loud cry from heaven down sped the Falcon, thence hasting like the wind he bore the Bold One. Then, wildly raging in his mind, the archer Kṛśānu aimed and loosed the string to strike him.

4.The Falcon bore him from heaven’s lofty summit as the swift car of Indra’s Friend bore Bhujyu. Then downward hither fell a flying feather of the Bird hasting forward in his journey.

5.And now let Maghavan accept the beaker, white, filled with milk, filled with the shining liquid; The best of sweet meath which the priests have offered: that Indra to his joy may drink, the Hero, that he may take and drink it to his rapture.

Asked of Guide

Who is the Falcon and why does he carry the 'Bold One' from the heavens?

The Falcon is a divine bird that carries a heroic figure out of a constraining, fortified place; the poem opens with a birth‑vision where the speaker “flew with rapid speed a Falcon,” linking the bird to liberation and swift ascent. The Falcon bears the Bold One down from heaven, a rescue or exile motif made vivid by images of conquered fiends, a broken feather, and the comparison to “the swift car of Indra’s Friend” that carried Bhujyu.

The Bold One seems to be an active, humanlike hero—an archer named Kṛśānu aims at him—so the episode stages conflict between divine mobility and mortal aggression, ending in ritual thanksgiving. The closing cup for Maghavan (Indra) ties the myth to Vedic ritual: the narrative explains why priests offer the beaker “filled with milk” and meath, celebrating Indra’s part in that heavenly descent, as in other Rigvedic hymns where divine feats justify sacrificial praise.

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