Sukta 48
Sukta 5.48
This brief hymn contemplates a “māyinī/māyin” formative power that gathers the waters in the cloud and spreads out the wide realm, while also evoking the thunderbolt-bearing force that orders day and night. It culminates by naming Varuṇa as the beautifully robed, four-faced power whose vastness cannot be measured, from whom the distributive and impelling deities (Bhaga and Savitṛ) grant desirable wealth.
In this hymn
Addressed to
Mantras
Mantra 1
कदु प्रियाय धाम्ने मनामहे स्वक्षत्राय स्वयशसे महे वयम् । आमेन्यस्य रजसो यदभ्र आँ अपो वृणाना वितनोति मायिनी ॥
कब हम बड़े भगवान के पास सोच लेकर जायेंगे? उनकी अपनी ताकत है, अपनी चमक है। वोह बड़ा बुनने वाला है। बादल में पानी लेकर वोह पूरा एरिया फैला देता है अपनी शक्ति से।
Mantra 2
ता अत्नत वयुनं वीरवक्षणं समान्या वृतया विश्वमा रजः । अपो अपाचीरपरा अपेजते प्र पूर्वाभिस्तिरते देवयुर्जनः ॥
वो लोग वो ज्ञान फैला रहे हैं जो हिम्मत वाला है। एक ही नियम से वो पूरी दुनिया को फैला देते हैं। पानी आगे भी जाता है, पीछे भी, दोनों तरफ हिलता है। भगवान को ढूंढने वाले लोग पुरानी हद से आगे बढ़ जाते हैं।
Mantra 3
आ ग्रावभिरहन्येभिरक्तुभिर्वरिष्ठं वज्रमा जिघर्ति मायिनि । शतं वा यस्य प्रचरन्त्स्वे दमे संवर्तयन्तो वि च वर्तयन्नहा ॥
दिन और रात, पत्थरों से वो वज्र उठा रहे हैं, बहुत ताकत वाला। जिसके घर में शक्तियाँ चलती हैं, वो दिन को मिलाते हैं और फिर अलग करते हैं।
Mantra 4
तामस्य रीतिं परशोरिव प्रत्यनीकमख्यं भुजे अस्य वर्पसः । सचा यदि पितुमन्तमिव क्षयं रत्नं दधाति भरहूतये विशे ॥
मैं उसका काम देख रहा हूँ, जैसे कोई कुल्हाड़ी मारता है। उसका रोशनी जैसा चेहरा है। जब वो किसी घर में खज़ाना रखता है जहाँ खाना है, तब वो उस खानदान को मदद देता है जो उसको पुकारता है।
Mantra 5
स जिह्वया चतुरनीक ऋञ्जते चारु वसानो वरुणो यतन्नरिम् । न तस्य विद्म पुरुषत्वता वयं यतो भगः सविता दाति वार्यम् ॥
वो अपनी जीभ से चारों तरफ काम करता है। यह वरुण है, अच्छे कपड़े पहने हुए, दुश्मन से लड़ रहा है। हम उसकी पूरी ताकत नहीं जानते। भगवान सविता उससे धन देता है जो सब को चाहिए।
Inside Sukta 48
How it unfolds
- Where it opens
A questioning wonder: when will the mind turn fully toward the dear seat of the Great, endowed with innate sovereignty and glory?
- Development
The hymn unfolds the image of a formative power gathering waters in the cloud and spreading the realm, then intensifies with vajra and pressing-stones imagery and the regulation of day/night cycles.
- Climax
Recognition of the supreme, beautifully robed Varuṇa—four-faced and active in speech—striving against the hostile divider, whose magnitude cannot be measured.
- Where it settles
A concluding theological linkage: from that source, Bhaga and Savitṛ distribute and impel desirable riches, reaffirming order and beneficence.
The deity: Varuṇa
- In the VedaAlongside him appear the motifs of cloud-waters, spreading of space, and the vajra-bearing shaper—imagery commonly shared across rain-sovereignty diction in the Rig Veda.
- Cosmic functionTo sustain cosmic order, bind and regulate the world’s courses (including the alternation and joining/separating of days), and ensure the right distribution of gifts through allied functions represented by Bhaga (apportioner) and Savitṛ (impeller).
- Inner significanceThe hymn can be read as a movement from wonder at the mind’s inability to grasp the ‘seat’ of the Great, toward recognition of an ordering intelligence that shapes inner ‘waters’ (energies, inspirations) and disciplines time, speech, and ethical coherence.
Famous verses
कदु प्रियाय धाम्ने मनामहे स्वक्षत्राय स्वयशसे महे वयम् । आमेन्यस्य रजसो यदभ्र आँ अपो वृणाना वितनोति मायिनी ॥आ ग्रावभिरहन्येभिरक्तुभिर्वरिष्ठं वज्रमा जिघर्ति मायिनि । शतं वा यस्य प्रचरन्त्स्वे दमे संवर्तयन्तो वि च वर्तयन्नहा ॥स जिह्वया चतुरनीक ऋञ्जते चारु वसानो वरुणो यतन्नरिम् । न तस्य विद्म पुरुषत्वता वयं यतो भगः सविता दाति वार्यम् ॥Attributes of the deity
- Upholder of ṛta (cosmic-moral order)
- Sovereign power (svakṣatra) and inherent splendor (svayaśas)
- Cloud-and-waters symbolism (rain-formative potency)
- Time-ordering (day/night courses)
- Vast, immeasurable greatness
- Source-context for Bhaga and Savitṛ’s bestowal of wealth
Also by this seer
- If Atris: numerous hymns in Rig Veda Mandala 5 (general Atri corpus), though this specific sukta’s seer-name is not established from the supplied excerpt
The rite, step by step
- Āvāhana: Invite the sovereign upholder of order and the formative rain-power to attend the rite.
- Stuti: Praise the deity’s self-sustaining sovereignty and splendor; recall the spreading of waters in the cloud.
- Soma/pressing association: Link the hymn’s ‘pressing-stones’ imagery to the ritual act of pressing and energizing the offering.
- Prārthanā: Ask for the right ordering of time, protection from divisive hostility, and bestowal of vārya (desirable wealth).
- Śānti/niyama: Conclude with acknowledgment of the deity’s immeasurable greatness and submit to ṛta.
Offerings
- Soma (where applicable to the rite)
- Ghee (ājya) into the fire
- Water libation (ācamana/āpo-related offering) as a symbolic complement to the cloud-waters theme
Frequently Asked Questions
The hymn’s final verse explicitly names Varuṇa, so Varuṇa is the clearest devatā. Earlier verses use ‘māyinī/māyin’ and rain-thunder imagery that can overlap with Indra/Parjanya language, but the culmination points to Varuṇa’s sovereignty and order.
In this context māyinī is a ‘shaper’ or ‘formative power’—the capacity that skillfully arranges and manifests, pictured as gathering the waters in the cloud and spreading out the wide realm.
Bhaga represents the apportioning of shares and good fortune, and Savitṛ represents the impelling power that sets things in motion. The verse presents their gift-giving as operating from, or grounded in, Varuṇa’s larger sovereignty and order.
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