Rig Veda · 648 of 1027
Mandala 8: HYMN XXVIII. Viśvedevas.
1.THE Thirty Gods and Three besides, whose seat hath been the sacred grass, From time of old have found and gained.
2.Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Agnis, with Consorts, sending boons, To whom our Vaṣaṭ! is addressed:
3.These are our guardians in the west, and northward here, and in the south, And on the cast, with all the tribe.
4.Even as the Gods desire so verily shall it be. None minisheth this power of theirs, No demon, and no mortal
5.The Seven carry seven spears; seven are the splendours they possess, And seven the glories they assume.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn keep repeating groups of seven for the gods?
The hymn uses sevens—“The Seven carry seven spears; seven are the splendours”—to signal completeness and ordered potency among the Viśvedevas. The repeated seven links the pantheon to a cosmic structure where each divine function is mirrored and multiplied, so the gods act as a distributed, cohesive force rather than isolated beings.
This pattern echoes other Vedic texts that arrange deities and powers in symbolic numbers; compare the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which organizes cosmic principles into paired and plural sets to show systemic wholeness. The sevens here make the divine presence measurable and reliable: a plural strength governing west, north, south, and east.
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.