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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 676 of 1027

Mandala 8: HYMN LVI. Ādityas.

1.Now pray we to these Ksatriyas, to the Ādityas for their aid, These who are gracious to assist.

2.May Mitra bear us o’er distress, and Varuṇa and Aryaman, Yea, the Ādityas, as they know.

3.For wonderful and meet for praise is these Ādityas’ saving help To him who offers and prepares.

4.The mighty aid of you, the Great, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, We claim to be our sure defence.

5.Guard us, Ādityas, still alive, before the deadly weapon strike: Are yc not they who hear our call?

6.What sheltering defence ye have for him who toils in pouring gifts, Graciously bless ye us therewith.

7.Ādityas, Gods, from sorrow there is freedom; for the sinless, wealth, O ye in whom no fault is seen.

8.Let not this fetter bind us fast: may he release us for success; For strong is Indra and renowned.

9.O Gods who fain would lend your aid, destroy not us as ye destroy Your enemies who go astray.

10.And thee too, O Great Aditi, thee also, Goddess, I address, Thee very gracious to assist.

11.Save us in depth and shallow from the foe, thou Mother of Strong Sons Let no one of our seed be harmed.

12.Far-spread! wide-ruling! grant that we, unharmed by envy, may expand Grant that our progeny may live.

13.Those who, the Princes of the folk, in native glory, ne’er deceived, Maintain their statutes, void of guile—

14.As such, from mouth of ravening wolves, O ye Ādityas, rescue us, Like a bound thief, O Aditi.

15.Ādityas, let this arrow, yea, let this malignity depart From us or e’er it strike us dead.

16.For, Bountiful Ādityas, we have evermore enjoyed your help, Both now and in die days of old.

17.To every one, O ye Most Wise, who turneth even from sin to you, Ye Gods vouchsafe that he may live.

18.May this new mercy profit us, which, ye Ādityas, frees like one, Bound from his bonds, O Aditi.

19.O ye Ādityas, this your might is not to be despised by us: So be ye graciously inclined.

20.Let not Vivasvān’s weapon nor the shaft, Ādityas, wrought with skill, Destroy us ere old age be nigh.

21.On every side dispel all sin, Ādityas, all hostility, Indigence, and combined attack.

Asked of Guide

Why does this hymn keep asking the Ādityas to protect the speaker and their offspring?

The hymn repeatedly appeals to the Ādityas because they are named as guardians of order, prosperity, and life—Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman and Aditi are invoked as “gracious to assist” and “sheltering defence.” The poet links ritual offerings and moral conduct to divine protection, asking that the gods “grant that our progeny may live” and free the supplicant “like one bound from his bonds.”

The requests cover threats both human and cosmic: arrows, envy, sin, and hostile attack, so protection is imagined broadly—physical, social, and moral. This emphasis matches other Rigveda hymns that tie sacrificial giving and right conduct to divine favor, for example the repeated promises of aid in Mandala 1 and Mandala 10 where gods reward devotion with stability and offspring.

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