Rig Veda

Book 10, Hymn IX. Waters

1. YE, Waters, are beneficent: so help ye us to energy
That we may look on great delight.

2 Give us a portion of the sap, the most auspicious that ye have,
Like mothers in their longing love.

3 To you we gladly come for him to whose abode ye send us on;
And, Waters, give us procreant strength.

4 The Waters. be to us for drink, Goddesses for our aid and bliss:
Let them stream to us health and strength.

5 I beg the Floods to give us balm, these Queens who rule o’er precious things,
And have supreme control of men.

6 Within the Waters-Soma thus hath told me-dwell all balms that heal,
And Agni, he who blesseth all.

7 O Waters, teem with medicine to keep my body safe from harm,
So that I long may see the Sun.

8 Whatever sin is found in me, whatever evil I have wrought,
If I have lied or falsely sworn, Waters, remove it far from me.

9 The Waters I this day have sought, and to their moisture have we come:
O Agni, rich in milk, come thou, and with thy splendour cover me.