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Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

Rig Veda · 682 of 1027

Mandala 8: HYMN LXII. Aśvins.

1.ROUSE ye for him who keeps the Law, yoke your steeds, Aśvins, to your car Let your protecting help be near.

2.Come, Aśvins, with your car more swift than is the twinkling of an eye Let your protecting help be near.

3.Aśvins, ye overlaid with cold the fiery pit for Atri’s sake: Let your protecting help be near.

4.Where are ye? whither are ye gone? whither, like falcons, have ye flown? Let your protecting help be near.

5.If ye at any time this day are listening to this my call, Let your protecting help be near.

6.The Aśvins, first to hear our prayer, for closest kinship I approach: Let your protecting help be near.

7.For Atri ye, O Aśvins, made a dwelling-place to shield him well, Let your protecting help be near.

8.Ye warded off the fervent heat for Atri when he sweetly spake: Let your protecting help be near.

9.Erst Saptavadhri by his prayer obtained the trenchant edge of fire: Let your protecting help be near.

10.Come hither, O ye Lords of wealth, and listen to this call of mine: Let your protecting help be near.

11.What is this praise told forth of you as Elders in the ancient way? Let your protecting help be near.

12.One common brotherhood is yours, Aśvins your kindred is the same: Let your protecting help be near.

13.This is your chariot, Aśvins, which speeds through the regions, earth and heaven Let your protecting aid be near.

14.Approach ye hitherward to us with thousands both of steeds and kine: Let your protecting help be near.

15.Pass us not by, remember us with thousands both of kine and steeds: Let your protecting help be near.

16.The purple-tinted Dawn hath risen, and true to Law hath made the light Let your protecting help be near.

17.He looked upon the Aśvins, as an axe-armed man upon a tree: Let your protecting help be near.

18.By the black band encompassed round, break it down, bold one, like a fort. Let your protecting help be near.

Asked of Guide

Why does every verse end with “Let your protecting help be near”?

The hymn repeatedly closes each line with the appeal “Let your protecting help be near” because the speaker is invoking the Aśvins as guardians whose nearness is the poem’s primary request; the refrain keeps returning the focus to protection and presence. The repetition works like a ritual heartbeat, binding varied memories of the Aśvins’ deeds—saving Atri, bringing light, granting wealth—into one continuous petition.

This formal refrain also marks the hymn as communal prayer rather than narrative alone: the people call, recall deeds, and then renew the petition, which creates liturgical rhythm. That technique appears elsewhere in the Rig Veda, where refrains cement a group’s invocation; compare other hymns in Mandala 8 that use repeated endings to hold the congregation’s intent.

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