Vedic · वैदिकSukta (hymn)

Devi Sukta — opening verse

The Goddess speaks in the first person: I move with the Rudras, the Vasus, the Adityas. Rigveda 10.125.1.

Rigveda 10.125.1edition

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

अ॒हं रु॒द्रेभि॒र्वसु॑भिश्चराम्य॒हमा॑दि॒त्यैरु॒त वि॒श्वदे॑वैः । अ॒हं मि॒त्रावरु॑णो॒भा बि॑भर्म्य॒हमि॑न्द्रा॒ग्नी अ॒हम॒श्विनो॒भा ॥

ahaṃ rudrebhir vasubhiś carāmy aham ādityair uta viśvadevaiḥ ahaṃ mitrāvaruṇobhā bibharmy aham indrāgnī aham aśvinobhā

Read in another script

No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.

Meaning

I move with the Rudras and the Vasus; I move with the Adityas and the All-Gods. I carry both Mitra and Varuna, both Indra and Agni, and both Ashvins.

This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.

A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.

How to recite

Trishtubh, four lines of eleven syllables printed here as two. The repeated ahaṃ that opens each clause carries the hymn — do not swallow it. Ubhā ("both") appears twice in elided form, as -ṇobhā and -nobhā; read those as one word each.

Time: brahma muhurta

Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong

ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ: Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
श ष स · ś ṣ s: Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
ः · ḥ (visarga): A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
ं · ṃ (anusvara): Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū: Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh: A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.

Word by word

अहम्aham: I(nom. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.123
रुद्रेभिःrudrebhiḥ: with the Rudras(inst. pl., Vedic form)MW1899-CDSL p.883
वसुभिःvasubhiḥ: with the Vasus(inst. pl.)MW1899-CDSL p.930
चरामिcarāmi: I move, I go about(1st sg. pres.)MW1899-CDSL p.389
आदित्यैःādityaiḥ: with the Adityas(inst. pl.)MW1899-CDSL p.137
विश्वदेवैःviśvadevaiḥ: with the All-Gods(inst. pl.)MW1899-CDSL p.993
बिभर्मिbibharmi: I bear, I carry(1st sg. pres.)MW1899-CDSL p.764
उभाubhā: both(acc. dual)MW1899-CDSL p.216

Glosses are confirmed against a Sanskrit–English dictionary; the reference after each entry names the edition consulted.

Context

This hymn is unusual twice over. Its rishi is a woman, Vak the daughter of Ambhrina, and it is spoken entirely in the first person by the Goddess herself — eight verses that never once address her from outside. The claim of the opening verse is deliberately structural: she does not say she is greater than the Rudras, Vasus and Adityas, but that she moves with them and carries them. What follows in the hymn extends that to speech, to the sacrifice, and to the whole world. The Devi Sukta is recited during Navaratri and is prefixed to recitations of the Durga Saptashati, which is how most listeners meet it. It should not be confused with the Tantric Devi Suktam of the Saptashati's own appendices, a different text.

Shadanga — the six limbs

The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.

rishi: Vak Ambhrini
chhanda: Trishtubh
devata: Vak (Devi)

Recited at / traditionally recited for

Navaratri Knowledge (jnana)Avahana (invocation)

Classified as Vedic — From the Vedic corpus — Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka or Upanishad. Carries a rishi, a metre, and accent marking. Basis for this classification.

← All mantras

Related mantras

VedicMantra

Purnamadah Purnamidam

The fullness verse — take fullness from fullness and fullness remains. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1

VedicMantra

Agnim Ile — the first verse of the Rigveda

The opening verse of the Rigveda, and so the first line of the Vedic corpus — an invocation of Agni.

Rigveda 1.1.1Agni

VedicMantra

Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam

The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.

Rigveda 10.191.2

VedicMantra

Bhadram Karnebhih

A prayer to hear what is good and see what is good, with steady limbs — Rigveda 1.89.8.

Rigveda 1.89.8

VedicMantra

Isha Vasyam Idam Sarvam

The opening verse of the Isha Upanishad — all this is pervaded by the Lord; enjoy what is left over.

Isha Upanishad 1

VedicMala mantra (long)

Dyauh Shantih — the great peace invocation

Peace called down through sky, air, earth, waters, plants and all beings — Shukla Yajurveda 36.17.

Shukla Yajurveda 36.17