A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.
Rig Veda · 434 of 1027
Mandala 5: HYMN LXXX. Dawn.
1.THE singers welcome with their hymns and praises the Goddess Dawn who bringeth in the sunlight, Sublime, by Law true to eternal Order, bright on her path, red-tinted, far-refulgent.
2.She comes in front, fair, rousing up the people, making the pathways easy to be travelled. High, on her lofty chariot, all-impelling, Dawn gives her splendour at the days’ beginning.
3.She, harnessing her car with purple oxen. injuring none, hath brought perpetual riches. Opening paths to happiness, the Goddess shines, praised by all, giver of every blessing.
4.With changing tints she gleams in double splendour while from the eastward she displays her body. She travels perfectly the path of Order, nor fails to reach, as one who knows, the quarters.
5.As conscious that her limbs are bright with bathing, she stands, as ’twere, erect that we may see her. Driving away malignity and darkness, Dawn, Child of Heaven, hath come to us with lustre.
6.The Daughter of the Sky, like some chaste woman, bends, opposite to men, her forehead downward. The Maid, disclosing boons to him who worships, hath brought again the daylight as aforetime.
Asked of Guide
Why is Dawn called a Goddess who 'harness[es] her car with purple oxen'?
The hymn paints Dawn as a living deity who arrives in a chariot — an image that makes the daily sunrise an intentional, moral act: she “harness[es] her car with purple oxen” to bring light, wealth, and order. The oxen and chariot signal power, regularity, and benign rule; Dawn “travels perfectly the path of Order” and therefore secures the world’s rhythm and welfare.
This portrayal matches other Vedic hymns where cosmic events are personified to show their moral and sustaining roles; see Rig Veda Mandala 1 where Surya and Ushas similarly govern order and blessing. Calling Dawn a goddess who drives a chariot turns sunrise into a dependable, beneficent presence that opens “paths to happiness.”
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.