The verse and its meaning · Vedas · Vedas — The Dawn

Night Hands Over Her Places

Rig Veda 1.113.2

रुशद्वत्सा रुशती श्वेत्यागादारैगु कृष्णा सदनान्यस्याः। समानबन्धू अमृते अनूची द्यावा वर्णं चरत आमिनाने

Meaning · English

Bright, with her bright calf, the white one has come. The dark one gave up her places. Kin, deathless, in turn they cross the sky, each erasing the other's colour.

The white one is Ushas, the Dawn. Her bright calf is the sun, always beside her, like a calf by its mother; Sāyaṇa adds that it drinks up the dew. The dark one is Night, who hands Dawn the places she held. The two share one kinsman, the sun: Dawn goes with it rising, Night with it setting. They are deathless because they are time itself. Sāyaṇa reads the colour two ways: each wipes out the other's, or together they wear down the form of every creature.

On a hospital ward, the night nurse finishes her shift as the morning nurse walks in. She clears her chair and notes, hands over the ward, and goes. They are never on duty together, yet the ward is never left alone. Night gives Dawn her places the same way: two kin, one post, unbroken turns.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: The Best of Lights · Rig Veda 1.113.1
• Next: Two Sisters, One Road · Rig Veda 1.113.3
• All of Vedas · Ask Krishna about it

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