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Rig Veda · 353 of 1027
Mandala 4: HYMN LVII. Ksetrapati, Etc.
1.WE through the Master of the Field, even as through a friend, obtain What nourisheth our kine and steeds. In such may he be good to us.
2.As the cow yieldeth milk, pour for us freely, Lord of the Field, the wave that beareth sweetness, Distilling meath, well-purified like butter, and let the. Lords of holy Law be gracious.
3.Sweet be the plants for us. the heavens, the waters, and full of sweets for us be air’s mid-region. May the Field’s Lord for us be full of sweetness, and may we follow after him uninjured.
4.Happily work our steers and men, may the plough furrow happily. Happily be the traces bound; happily may he ply the goad.
5.Śuna and Sīra, welcome ye this laud, and with the milk which ye have made in heaven Bedew ye both this earth of ours.
6.Auspicious Sītā, come thou near: we venerate and worship thee That thou mayst bless and prosper us and bring us fruits abundantly.
7.May Indra press the furrow down, may Pūṣan guide its course aright. May she, as rich in milk, be drained for us through each succeeding year.
8.Happily let the shares turn up the plough-land, happily go the ploughers with the oxen. With meath and milk Parjanya make us happy. Grant us prosperity, Śuna and Sīra.
Asked of Guide
Who are Śuna and Sīra, and why are they asked to 'bedew' the earth with milk?
Śuna and Sīra appear as divine bovine figures invoked for fertility; the hymn calls them to ‘‘bedew ye both this earth of ours’’ with milk as a symbolic request for abundance. The Rig Veda links livestock and agricultural success: milk here stands for nourishment and the ‘‘wave that beareth sweetness,’’ a cosmic kindly flow that sustains crops and people.
The prayer names other farm-protectors too—Ksetrapati (Lord of the Field), Sītā, Pūṣan, Parjanya—so Śuna and Sīra function within a network of agrarian deities ensuring ploughing, rain, and guidance. This matches what H. H. Wilson and modern commentators note about Vedic hymns treating cows and rains as together producing prosperity in village life.
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