Hiranyagarbha Sukta — opening verse
The golden womb arose first, the one lord of all that came to be — and the hymn ends each verse by asking which god to worship.
Rigveda 10.121.1edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
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No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.
Meaning
The golden germ arose in the beginning; born, he was the one lord of all that is. He held the earth and this sky in place. To which god shall we offer our oblation?
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
- Time
- brahma muhurta, sunrise
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
- हिरण्यगर्भःhiraṇyagarbhaḥ
- the golden womb, the golden germ(nom. sg. m.)MW1899-CDSL p.1299
- समवर्ततsamavartata
- came into being, arose(3rd sg. imperfect mid.)
- अग्रेagre
- in the beginning(loc. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.6
- भूतस्यbhūtasya
- of all that has come to be(gen. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.761
- पतिरेकःpatir ekaḥ
- the one lord
- दाधारdādhāra
- held, upheld(3rd sg. perfect)MW1899-CDSL p.519
- पृथिवीं द्याम्pṛthivīṃ dyām
- the earth and the sky
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- chhanda
- Trishtubh
- devata
- Ka (Prajapati)
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Vedic — From the Vedic corpus — Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka or Upanishad. Carries a rishi, a metre, and accent marking. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Purnamadah Purnamidam
The fullness verse — take fullness from fullness and fullness remains. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.
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.
Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam
The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.