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Rig Veda · 692 of 1027
Mandala 8: HYMN LXXII. Viśvedevas.
1.WE choose unto ourselves that high protection of the Mighty Gods That it may help and succour us.
2.May they be ever our allies, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Far-seeing Gods who prosper us.
3.Ye furtherers of holy Law, transport us safe o’er many woes, As over water-floods in ships.
4.Dear wealth be Aryaman to us, Varuṇa dear wealth meet for praise: Dear wealth we choose unto ourselves.
5.For Sovrans of dear wealth are ye, Ādityas, not of sinner’s wealth, Ye sapient Gods who slay the foe.
6.We in our homes, ye Bounteous Ones, and while we journey on the road, Invoke you, Gods, to prosper us.
7.Regard us, Indra, Viṣṇu, here, ye Aśvins and the Marut host, Us who are kith and kin to you.
8.Ye Bounteous Ones, from time of old we here set forth our brotherhood, Our kinship in. the Mother’s womb.
9.Then come with Indra for your chief, as early day, ye Bounteous Gods Yea, 1 address you now for this.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn call many gods 'Bounteous Ones' and ask them to be allies?
The hymn names a group—Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, the Ādityas, Indra, Viṣṇu, the Aśvins, Maruts—and addresses them collectively as “Bounteous Ones” because it seeks communal protection and prosperity. The singers present a pact: they invoke these gods as allies and “Sovrans of dear wealth,” asking the divine hosts to transport them safely and grant wealth and success.
This collective appeal frames the gods as guarantors of social and cosmic order—“furtherers of holy Law”—whose favour secures family, journey, and livelihood. That communal theology echoes themes in the Brāhmaṇas, which also connect ritual invocation of many deities to maintaining ṛta (cosmic order) and social wellbeing.
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