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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 579 of 1027

Mandala 7: HYMN LXIII. Mitra-Varuṇa.

1.COMMON to all mankind, auspicious Sūrya, he who beholdeth all, is mounting upward; The God, the eye of Varuṇa and Mitra, who rolled up darkness like a piece of leather.

2.Sūrya’s great ensign, restless as the billow, that urgeth men to action, is advancing: Onward he still would roll the wheel well-rounded, which Etaśa, harnessed to the car-pole, moveth.

3.Refulgent from the bosom of the Mornings, he in Whom singers take delight ascendeth. This Savitar, God, is my chief joy and pleasure, who breaketh not the universal statute.

4.Golden, far-seeing, from the heaven he riseth: far is his goal, he hasteth on resplendent. Men, verily, inspirited by Sūrya speed to their aims and do the work assigned them.

5.Where the irrunortals have prepared his pathway he flieth through the region like a falcon. With homage and oblations will we serve you, O Mitra-Varuṇa, when the Sun hath risen.

6.Now Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman vouchsafe us freedom and room, for us and for our children. May we find paths all fair and good to travel. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.

Asked of Guide

Why does this hymn call Sūrya both 'the eye of Varuṇa and Mitra' and 'Savitar'?

The hymn names Sūrya as “the eye of Varuṇa and Mitra” to show he is their visible, watching presence who reveals and enforces cosmic order; his rising is the gods’ active oversight, as when he “rolled up darkness like a piece of leather.” Calling him Savitar links that visible sun to the inspiring, law-upholding deity who “breaketh not the universal statute,” tying sunlight to ordinance and moral regularity.

This double naming treats the sun as a single power wearing different roles: witness and enforcer (Varuṇa–Mitra) and the vivifying, ordinance-keeping mover (Savitar). The Rig Veda elsewhere makes the same move, as in other hymns to Savitar that portray the sun both as awakener and as guarantor of ṛta (see other Mandala 7 hymns for the same language).

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