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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 899 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN LXII. Viśvedevas, Etc.

1.YE, who, adorned with guerdon through the sacrifice, have won you Indra’s friendship and eternal life, Even to you be happiness, Aṅgirases. Welcome the son of Manu, ye who are most wise.

2.The Fathers, who drave forth the wealth in cattle, have in the year’s courses cleft Vala by Eternal Law: A lengthened life be yours, O ye Aṅgirases. Welcome the son of Manu, ye who are most wise.

3.Ye raised the Sun to heaven by everlasting Law, and spread broad earth, the Mother, out on every side. Fair wealth of progeny be yours, Aṅgirases. Welcome the son of Manu, ye who are most wise.

4.This kinsman in your dwellingplace speaks pleasant words: give car to this, ye Ṛṣis, children of the Gods. High Brahman dignity be yours, Aṅgirases. Welcome the son of Manu, ye who are most wise.

5.Distinguished by their varied form, these Ṛṣis have been deeply moved. These are the sons of Aṅgirases: from Agni have they sprung to life.

6.Distinguished by their varied form, they sprang from Agni, from the sky. Navagva and Daśagva, noblest Aṅgiras, he giveth bounty with the Gods.

7.With Indra for associate the priests have cleared the stable full of steeds and kine, Giving to me a thousand with their eightmarked cars, they gained renown among the Gods.

8.May this man’s sons be multiplied; like springing corn may Manu grow, Who gives at once in bounteous gift a thousand kine, a hundred steeds.

9.No one attains to him, as though a man would grasp the heights of heaven. Savarnya’s sacrificial meed hath broadened like an ample flood.

10.Yadu and Turva, too, have given two Dāsas, well-disposed, to serve, Together with great store of kine.

11.Blest be the hamlet’s chief, most liberal Manu, and may his bounty rival that of Sūrya. May the God let Ssvarni’s life be leng thened, with whom, unwearied, we have lived and prospered.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn keep welcoming “the son of Manu, ye who are most wise” repeatedly?

The hymn uses the repeated line as a ritual salutation that links the guest or patron to cosmic order; each stanza pairs blessings for the Aṅgirases with an invitation: “Welcome the son of Manu, ye who are most wise.” That refrain frames the poem as a sacrificial invocation where hospitality and religious authority reinforce one another.

By calling him “son of Manu” the poem names lineage and law—Manu stands for human origin and ṛta (Eternal Law)—so the welcome also invests the man with social and cosmic standing. This technique appears elsewhere in the Rig Veda where formulaic refrains bind individual benefaction to communal and divine reciprocity, as in other hymns that praise patrons and priests together.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.