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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 35 of 1027

Mandala 1: HYMN XXXV. Savitar.

1.AGNI I first invoke for our prosperity; I call on Mitra, Varuṇa, to aid us here. I call on Night who gives rest to all moving life; I call on Savitar the God to lend us help.

2.Throughout the dusky firmament advancing, laying to rest the immortal and the mortal, Borne in his golden chariot he cometh, Savitar, God who looks on every creature.

3.The God moves by the upward path, the downward; with two bright Bays, adorable, he journeys. Savitar comes, the God from the far distance, and chases from us all distress and sorrow.

4.His chariot decked with pearl, of various colours, lofty, with golden pole, the God hath mounted, The many-rayed One, Savitar the holy, bound, bearing power and might, for darksome regions.

5.Drawing the gold-yoked car his Bays, white-footed, have manifested light to all the peoples. Held in the lap of Savitar, divine One, all men, all beings have their place for ever.

6.Three heavens there are; two Savitar’s, adjacent: in Yama’s world is one, the home of heroes, As on a linch-pin, firm, rest things immortal: he who hath known it let him here declare it.

7.He, strong of wing, hath lightened up the regions, deep-quivering Asura, the gentle Leader. Where now is Sūrya, where is one to tell us to what celestial sphere his ray hath wandered?

8.The earth’s eight points his brightness hath illumined, three desert regions and the Seven Rivers. God Savitar the gold-eyed hath come hither, giving choice treasures unto him who worships.

9.The golden-handed Savitar, far-seeing, goes on his way between the earth and heaven, Drives away sickness, bids the Sun approach us, and spreads the bright sky through the darksome region.

10.May he, gold-handed Asura, kind Leader, come hither to us with his help and favour. Driving off Rākṣasas and Yātudhānas, the God is present, praised in hymns at evening.

11.O Savitar, thine ancient dustless pathways are well established in the air’s mid-region: O God, come by those paths so fair to travel, preserve thou us from harm this day, and bless us.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn call Savitar both 'gold-handed' and 'many-rayed'?

The hymn names Savitar ‘gold-handed’ and ‘many-rayed’ to register his active, beneficent power: his ‘gold-handed’ touch drives off sickness and grants ‘choice treasures,’ while his many rays ‘lightened up the regions’ and ‘spread the bright sky.’ These epithets describe how Savitar works—he moves in a golden chariot, touches the world, and disperses darkness and harm.

This reading fits the Rigveda’s tendency to fuse physical image and function; the chariot, bays, and hands show motion and agency just as ‘many-rayed’ shows luminous reach. For a parallel that treats divine epithets as functional metaphors, compare Mircea Eliade’s interpretations in The Sacred and the Profane, which treats ritual language as describing what the deity does in the world.

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