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

Many Callings, One Morning

Rig Veda 1.113.6

क्षत्राय त्वं श्रवसे त्वं महीया इष्टये त्वमर्थमिव त्वमित्यै। विसदृशा जीविताभिप्रचक्ष उषा अजीगर्भुवनानि विश्वा

Meaning · English

One to rule, one to renown, one to a great offering, one setting out toward a goal. To show lives unlike each other, Dawn has woken all beings.

Kutsa points at people one by one: you to rule, you to renown, you to a great offering, you to the road. Sāyaṇa reads the first word as wealth rather than rule, renown as food, and the offering as one of the great sacrifices. The closing line carries the weight. The lives Dawn lights up are unlike each other, and Sāyaṇa takes them as different livelihoods, such as farming and trade. One light falls on all of them, and each person rises to a different kind of work.

Picture a street as the sun comes up. The same grey light falls on a shopkeeper rolling up his shutter, a farmer walking out with a hoe, a priest lighting the lamp and a bus driver warming the engine. One light reaches them all, and each turns toward a different day's work. That is the Dawn Kutsa sings.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Every Creature Woken · Rig Veda 1.113.4
• Next: First of Dawns to Come · Rig Veda 1.113.8
• All of Vedas · Ask Krishna about it

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