Rig Veda · 568 of 1027
Mandala 7: HYMN LII. Ādityas.
1.MAY we be free from every bond, Ādityas! a castle among Gods and men, ye Vasus. Winning, may we win Varuṇa and Mitra, and, being, may we be, O Earth and Heaven.
2.May Varuṇa and Mitra grant this blessing, our Guardians, shelter to our seed and offspring. Let us not suffer for another’s trespass. nor do the thing that ye, O Vasus, punish.
3.The ever-prompt Aṅgirases, imploring riches from Savitar the God, obtained them. So may our Father who is great and holy, and all the Gods, accordant, grant this favour.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn call to multiple deities—Ādityas, Vasus, Varuṇa, Mitra, Savitar—in the same petition?
The hymn gathers several deities because each carries a particular protective or granting function: the Ādityas and Vasus are invoked as guarantors of a “castle among Gods and men,” while Varuṇa and Mitra are named as Guardians who can “grant this blessing” and shelter the seed and offspring. The poem treats the gods as a network of responsibilities, summoning whichever divine power secures freedom from bond, offspring’s safety, and prosperity.
This communal litany follows the Vedic pattern where petitions list gods whose domains overlap—precise favors move through different divine offices. The structure echoes other hymns in the Rig Veda that seek social and cosmic order through coordinated divine action, as when hymns to Indra and Agni combine martial and sacrificial authority to achieve a single human aim.
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