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Rig Veda · 960 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN CXXIII. Vena.
1.SEE, Vena, born in light, hath driven hither, on chariot of the air, the Calves of Pṛśni. Singers with hymns caress him as an infant there where the waters and the sunlight mingle.
2.Vena draws up his wave from out the ocean. mist-born, the fair one’s back is made apparent, Brightly he shone aloft on Order’s summit: the hosts sang glory to their common birthplace.
3.Full many, lowing to their joint-possession, dwelling together stood the Darling’s Mothers. Ascending to the lofty height of Order, the bands of singers ‘sip the sweets of Amṛta.
4.Knowing his form, the sages yearned to meet him: they have come nigh to hear the wild Bull’s bellow. Performing sacrifice they reached the river: for the Gandharva found the immortal waters.
5.The Apsaras, the Lady, sweetly smiling, supports her Lover in sublimest heaven. In his Friend’s dwelling as a Friend he wanders: he, Vena, rests him on his golden pinion.
6.They gaze on thee with longing in their spirit, as on a strong-winged bird that mounteth sky-ward; On thee with wings of gold, Varuṇa’s envoy, the Bird that hasteneth to the home of Yama.
7.Erect, to heaven hath the Gandharva mounted, pointing at us his many-coloured weapons; Clad in sweet raiment beautiful to look on, for he, as light, produceth forms that please us.
8.When as a spark he cometh near the ocean, still looking with a vulture’s eye to heaven, His lustre, joying in its own bright splendour, maketh dear glories in the lowest region.
Asked of Guide
Why is Vena described as both a child and a bright bird in this hymn?
The hymn shows Vena as a being who appears in multiple overlapping images: born in light and caressed “as an infant” while also mounting the air on golden wings and seen as a Bird and Gandharva. These images together present Vena as a liminal, cosmological presence who bridges origin (birth, mothers, waters) and divine motion (flight, Varuṇa’s envoy, ascent to Order).
The poets use domestic and celestial metaphors to make that bridging vivid—the “Calves of Pṛśni” and “Darling’s Mothers” ground him in kinship and sacrifice, while “many-coloured weapons” and “wings of gold” locate him in ritual power and heavenly travel. This technique echoes other Rigveda hymns that personify cosmic forces in human and animal forms to map how the sacred enters the world (see other Mandala 10 hymns for similar layering).
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