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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 341 of 1027

Mandala 4: HYMN XLV. Aśvins

1.YONDER goes up that light: your chariot is yoked that travels round upon the summit of this heaven. Within this car are stored three kindred shares of food, and a skin filled with meath is rustling as the fourth.

2.Forth come your viands rich with store of pleasant meath, and cars and horses at the flushing of the dawn, Stripping the covering from the surrounded gloom, and spreading through mid-air bright radiance like the Sun.

3.Drink of the meath with lips accustomed to the draught; harness for the meath’s sake the chariot that ye love. Refresh the way ye go, refresh the paths with meath: hither, O Aśvins, bring the skin that holds the meath.

4.The swans ye have are friendly, rich in store of meath, gold-pinioned, strong to draw, awake at early morn, Swimming the flood, exultant, fain for draughts that cheer: ye come like flies to our libations of the meath.

5.Well knowing solemn rites and rich in meath, the fires sing to the morning Aśvins at the break of day, When with pure hands the prudent energetic priest hath with the stones pressed out the Soma rich in meath.

6.The rays advancing nigh, chasing with day the gloom, spread through the firmament bright radiance like the Sun; And the Sun harnessing his horses goeth forth: ye through your Godlike nature let his paths be known.

7.Devout in thought I have declared, O Aśvins, your chariot with good steeds, which lasts for ever, Wherewith ye travel swiftly through the regions to the prompt worshipper who brings oblation.

Asked of Guide

Why do the Aśvins bring a skin of meath and swans to the morning ritual?

The chapter shows the Aśvins arriving at dawn bearing a skin “filled with meath” and swans that are “gold-pinioned, strong to draw,” which supply the sacred drink and pull their chariot to the worshipper’s rite. The skin and swans function as offerings and vehicles of nourishment, making the divine presence tangible to the priest who “with the stones pressed out the Soma rich in meath.”

The hymn links those gifts to ritual efficacy: the Aśvins’ meath refreshes the path of worship and their chariot’s radiance “spreads through the firmament bright radiance like the Sun.” This fits the Rigveda’s broader picture, where the Aśvins provide healing, renewal, and the means (Soma and conveyance) for sacrificial communion, similar to how other hymns cast Soma as the link between gods and ritual.

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