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Rig Veda · 439 of 1027
Mandala 5: HYMN LXXXV. Varuṇa.
1.SING forth a hymn sublime and solemn, grateful to glorious. Varuṇa, imperial Ruler, Who hath struck out, like one who slays the victim, earth as a skin to spread in front of Sūrya.
2.In the tree-tops the air he hath extended, put milk in kine and vigorous speed in horses, Set intellect in hearts, fire in the waters, Siurya in heaven and Soma on the mountain.
3.Varuṇa lets the big cask, opening downward, flow through the heaven and earth and air’s mid-region. Therewith the universe’s Sovran waters earth as the shower of rain bedews the barley.
4.When Varuṇa is fain for milk he moistens the sky, the land, and earth to her foundation. Then straight the mountains clothe them in the rain-cloud: the Heroes, putting forth their vigour, loose them.
5.I will declare this mighty deed of magic, of glorious Varuṇa the Lord Immortal, Who standing in the firmament hath meted the earth out with the Sun as with a measure.
6.None, verily, hath ever let or hindered this the most wise God’s mighty deed of magic, Whereby with all their flood, the lucid rivers fill not one sea wherein they pour their waters.
7.If we have sinned against the man who loves us, have ever wronged a brother, friend, or comrade, The neighbour ever with us, or a stranger, O Varuṇa, remove from us the trespass.
8.If we, as gamesters cheat at play, have cheated, done wrong unwittingly or sinned of purpose, Cast all these sins away like loosened fetters, and, Varuṇa let us be thine own beloved.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn ask Varuṇa to 'remove from us the trespass' after praising his cosmic deeds?
The hymn first praises Varuṇa’s cosmic ordering—he stretches the air and measures the earth, lets the “Sovran waters” flow, and makes mountains clothe themselves with rain—showing him as the legislator and maintainer of cosmic law. That portrayal frames him as the proper arbiter of moral order, so the plea “remove from us the trespass” appeals to his role as dispenser of justice and forgiving power over human faults.
Asking for forgiveness follows naturally from depicting Varuṇa as both ruler of waters and guardian of ṛta (the right order); the speaker seeks cleansing comparable to rain that renews earth. The hymn’s language—“Cast all these sins away like loosened fetters, and, Varuṇa let us be thine own beloved”—connects sacrificial praise with ethical restoration, similar to how the Upanishads link ritual knowledge to moral alignment.
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