वेदोक्त रात्रिसूक्तम् (Vedokta Rātrisūktam)

उत्पत्ति: ऋग्वेदसंहितायां दशमं मण्डलं, १२७ सप्तविंशत्युत्तरशततमं सूक्तम् ।
Source: Rigveda, Book 10, Sukta 127
Order: Phonetic devanagari verse, Literal translation preserving word order (L), Simple translation (S), Explanation (E)


1. रात्री॒ व्य॑ख्यदाय॒ती पु॑रु॒त्रा दे॒व्य१॒॑क्षभिः॑ । विश्वा॒ अधि॒ श्रियो᳚ऽधित ॥

L: The Goddess Night approaches, looking upon many places with her many eyes, bearing many fortunes.

S: The world has many aspects, and the Goddess Night sees them all with her many eyes as she approaches, bringing many kinds of providence.

E: The theme of the verse is plurality. The world has many places, which undergo many seasons, and in fact there is more than one world. She has many eyes (not just two) and she looks through all of them, at all aspects. She comes bearing many fortunes, both in the sense of wealth, and in the sense of luck.

2. ओर्व॑प्रा॒ अम॑र्त्या नि॒वतो॑ दे॒व्यु१॒॑द्वत॑: । ज्योति॑षा बाधते॒ तम॑: ॥

L: The immortal Goddess occupies all dimensions of space, both causing the darkness and countering it with light.

S: The Goddess spans all of time (is immortal), fills all of space and contains within her both darkness (absence of the sun) and the light that ends it (the moon and stars).

E: The theme here is that the Goddess is all-encompassing.

3. निरु॒ स्वसा॑रमस्कृतो॒षसं॑ दे॒व्या॑य॒ती । अपेदु॑ हासते॒ तम॑: ॥

L: The Goddess as she approaches brings her sister, the Goddess Dawn, after her, and thus ends the darkness.

S: The Goddess brings her sister, the Goddess Dawn, in tow, and thus darkness gives way to light.

E: The idea is that the Goddess does not come alone. She and her sister come in turns, bringing darkness and light.

4. सा नो॑ अ॒द्य यस्या॑ व॒यं नि ते॒ याम॒न्नवि॑क्ष्महि । वृ॒क्षे न व॑स॒तिं वय॑: ॥

L: May she favour us, at whose advent we settle down, just as birds do in their arboreal nests.

S: Her advent makes us settle down, just as birds do in their nests. May she always favour us.

E: This is where the prayer starts. We seek the blessings of the Night, who causes us to seek shelter and repose.

5. नि ग्रामा॑सो अविक्षत॒ नि प॒द्वन्तो॒ नि प॒क्षिण॑: । नि श्ये॒नास॑श्चिद॒र्थिन॑: ॥

L: The villagers (humans), those with legs (beasts), and those with wings (birds) all settle down, even the birds that seek prey.

S: Villagers, beasts and even birds pursuing prey settle down at her advent.

E: The emphasis is on the Night being a time where all activity stops

6. या॒वया॑ वृ॒क्यं१॒॑ वृकं॑ य॒वय॑ स्ते॒नमू॑र्म्ये । अथा॑ नः सु॒तरा॑ भव ॥

L: O Goddess Ūrmyā, keep away the she-wolf, the he-wolf and those who steal, and become easy to pass.

S: O Goddess Night, keep danger at bay - be they wolves or thieves, and be safe for us to pass.

E: While actual thieves and wolves are a material threat IRL (and are more likely to appear at night), in this verse they also represent other spiritual dangers. It is particularly curious that the female and male wolves are mentioned separately. But we don’t have enough context to determine the exact nature of the spiritual dangers being referred to. It is totally open to interpretation. For example, the Gitā Press translation interprets the wolves as desire, i.e. that which gives birth to sin (female wolf) and the sin itself (male wolf).

7. उप॑ मा॒ पेपि॑श॒त्तम॑: कृ॒ष्णं व्य॑क्तमस्थित । उष॑ ऋ॒णेव॑ यातय ॥

L: The blue-black darkness appears; O Goddess Dawn, clear it as if it were a debt.

S: O Goddess Dawn, clear the blue-black darkness, just as wealth clears debt.

E: A clear night sky can be ablaze with stars (especially in the pre-industrial era), but nights can be cloudy and/or moonless too. This verse appeals to the sister of the Goddess Night, to dispel the darkness that Night herself cannot dispel on her own.

The imagery in this verse is especially interesting. The first part of the verse specifically attributes a colour to the darkness. That means the darkness is not impenetrable, and it does reflect some light. So, all hope is not lost. 

The imagery of darkness being cleared as if it were debt ties back to the first verse in which the Goddess Night comes bearing fortunes.

8. उप॑ ते॒ गा इ॒वाक॑रं वृणी॒ष्व दु॑हितर्दिवः । रात्रि॒ स्तोमं॒ न जि॒ग्युषे॑ ॥

L: Accept these cattle-like hymns, O daughter of heaven, Goddess Night, just as victors accept their spoils

S: O Goddess Night, daughter of heaven, accept these hymns, which are like the cattle and homage offered to victors of raids.

E: Vedic India had pastoral tribes that raided each other for cattle, and these raids or battles were often the subject of songs and stories. Hence the comparison to cattle and homage.