Rig Veda · 581 of 1027
Mandala 7: HYMN LXV. Mitra-Varuṇa.
1.WITH hymns I call you, when the Sun hath risen, Mitra, and Varuṇa whose thoughts are holy, Whose Power Divine, supreme and everlasting, comes with good heed at each man’s supplication.
2.For they are Asuras of Gods, the friendly make, both of you, our lands exceeding fruitful. May we obtain you, Varuṇa and Mitra, wherever Heaven and Earth and days may bless us.
3.Bonds of the sinner, they bear many nooses: the wicked mortal hardly may escape them. Varuṇa-Mitra, may your path of Order bear us o’er trouble as a boat o’er waters.
4.Come, taste our offering, Varuṇa and Mitra: bedew our pasture wil sweet food and fatness. Pour down in plenty here upon the people the choicest of your fair celestial water.
5.To you this laud, O Varuṇa and Mitra, is offered, like bright Soma juice to Vāyu. Favour our songs of praise, wake thought and spirit. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.
Asked of Guide
Why are Mitra and Varuṇa called Asuras of Gods here?
The hymn calls Mitra and Varuṇa “Asuras of Gods” to stress their sovereign authority and moral power; Asura in early Vedic usage names beings of strength and high rule rather than later demonic figures. The poets praise their “Power Divine, supreme and everlasting” and appeal to them as guarantors of ṛta (order), binding sinners with “many nooses” and guiding the community like a boat over trouble.
This chapter treats them as beneficent, world-ordering deities who bring fertility, rain and protection—requests appear as practical petitions: “Pour down in plenty,” “bedew our pasture.” That positive, governance role aligns with passages in other hymns of the Rig Veda where Asuras such as Indra and Varuṇa enforce cosmic law, similar to what the Atharva Veda and later Upanishadic commentary note about divine authority.
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