A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.
Rig Veda · 870 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN XXXIII. Various Deities.
1.THE urgings of the people have impelled me, and by,the nearest way I bring you Pūṣan. The Universal Gods have brought me safely. The cry was heard, Behold, Dubsasu cometh!
2.The ribs that compass me give pain and trouble me like rival wives. Indigence, nakedness, exhaustion press me sore: my mind is fluttering like a bird’s.
3.As rats eat weavers’ threads, cares are consuming me, thy singer, gatakratu, me. Have mercy on us once, O Indra, Bounteous Lord: be thou a Father unto us.
4.I the priests’ Ṛṣi chose as prince most liberal Kurusravana, The son of Trasadasyu’s son,
5.Whose three bays harnessed to the car bear me straight onward: I will laud The giver of a thousand meeds,
6.The sire of Upamasravas, even him whose words were passing sweet, As a fair field is to its lord.
7.Mark, Upamasravas, his son, mark, grandson of Mitratithi: I am thy father’s eulogist.
8.If I controlled Immortal Gods, yea, even were I Lord of men, My liberal prince were living still.
9.None lives, even had he hundred lives, beyond the statute of the Gods So am I parted from my friend.
Asked of Guide
Why does the poet plead with Indra and also praise a mortal prince in the same hymn?
The hymn mixes a personal plea to Indra with praise of a mortal patron because it records the poet’s immediate situation: he is beleaguered by poverty and social pressure — “Indigence, nakedness, exhaustion press me sore” — so he asks Indra for mercy as protector and provider. Praising Kurusravana and his lineage functions as both genuine eulogy and a reminder of the poet’s social ties and past patronage that once sustained him.
This combination shows the poet operating in two spheres at once: the cosmic, where gods like Indra answer pleas for welfare, and the human, where patrons like Kurusravana embody support and status; the lament that “None lives… beyond the statute of the Gods” ties both threads by pointing to mortality and the need for divine and human assistance. The pattern echoes other Vedic hymns that interweave supplication and praise, such as many hymns in Rig Veda Mandala 10.
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.