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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 851 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN XIV. Yama.

1.HONOUR the King with thine oblations, Yama, Vivasvān’s Son, who gathers men together, Who travelled to the lofty heights above us, who searches out and shows the path to many.

2.Yama first found for us a place to dwell in: this pasture never can be taken from Us. Men born on earth tread their own paths that lead them whither our ancient Fathers have departed.

3.Mitali prospers there with Kavyas, Yama with Aṅgiras’ sons, Bṛhaspati with Rkvans: Exalters of the Gods, by Gods exalted, some joy in praise and some in our oblation.

4.Come, seat thee on this bed of grass, O Yama, in company with Aṅgirases and Fathers. Let texts recited by the sages bring thee O King, let this oblation make thee joyful.

5.Come, Yama, with the Aṅgirases the Holy, rejoice thee here with children of Virūpa. To sit on sacred grass at this our worship, I call Vivasvān, too, thy Father hither.

6.Our Fathers are Aṅgirases, Navagvas, Atharvans, Bhṛgus who deserve the Soma. May these, the Holy, look on us with favour, may we enjoy their gracious loving-kindness.

7.Go forth, go forth upon the ancient pathways whereon our sires of old have gone before us. There shalt thou look on both the Kings enjoying their sacred food, God Varuṇa and Yama.

8.Meet Yama, meet the Fathers, meet the merit of free or ordered acts, in highest heaven. Leave sin and evil, seek anew thy dwelling, and bright with glory wear another body.

9.Go hence, depart ye, fly in all directions: this place for him the Fathers have provided. Yama bestows on him a place to rest in adorned with days and beams of light and waters.

10.Run and outspeed the two dogs, Saramā’s offspring, brindled, four-eyed, upon thy happy pathway. Draw nigh then to the gracious-minded Fathers where they rejoice in company with Yama.

11.And those two dogs of thine, Yama, the watchers, four-eyed, who look on men and guard the pathway,— Entrust this man, O King, to their protection, and with prosperity and health endow him.

12.Dark-hued, insatiate, with distended nostrils, Yama’s two envoys roam among the People; May they restore to us a fair existence here and to-day, that we may see the sunlight.

13.To Yama pour the Soma, bring to Yama consecrated gifts: To Yama sacrifice prepared and heralded by Agni goes.

14.Offer to Yama holy gifts enriched with butter, and draw near: So may he grant that we may live long days of life among the Gods.

15.Offer to Yama, to the King, oblation very rich in meath: Bow down before the Ṛṣis of the ancient times, who made this path in days of old.

16.Into the six Expanses flies the Great One in Trkadrukas. The Gāyatrī, the Tṛṣṭup, all metres in Yama are contained.

Asked of Guide

Why do the priests invite Yama to sit "on this bed of grass" with the Aṅgirases and Fathers?

They invite Yama to sit “on this bed of grass” because the hymn treats him as the royal host of the ancestral realm who welcomes the dead into the ancestral assembly; the grass is the sacred seat where Fathers and seers gather and receive oblations. The ritual summons ties Yama’s kingship to the lineage of Aṅgirases and the Ṛṣis so that the deceased will find a protected place among those honoured teachers.

Calling Yama to sit with the Fathers makes the sacrifice a bridge: the oblation “bring to Yama consecrated gifts,” so the offering reaches the ancestral company and secures “prosperity and health.” This chapter connects with the funeral passages elsewhere in the Rig Veda where Yama organizes the afterlife and the Ṛṣis provide the path, for example in Mandala 10’s other Yama hymns that also stress guardianship and ancestral hospitality.

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.