HYMN TO SÛRYA, THE SUN
(From the “Rig Veda”)
His heralds bear him up aloft, the god who knoweth all that lives,
Sûrya, that all may look on him.
The constellations pass away, like thieves, together with their beams,
Before the all-beholding Sun.
His herald rays are seen afar refulgent o’er the world of men,
Like flames of fire that hum and blaze.
Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Sûrya, maker of the light,
Illuming all the radiant realm
Thou goest to the hosts of the gods, thou comest hither to mankind,
Hither all light to be beheld.
Traversing sky and wide mid-air, thou makest with thy beams our days,
Sun, seeing all things that have birth.
Seven bay steeds harnessed to thy car bear thee, O thou far-seeing one,
God, Sûrya, with the radiant hair.
Sûrya hath yoked the pure bright seven, the daughters of the chariot;
With these, self-yoked, he goeth forth.
Looking upon the loftier light above the darkness we have come
To Sûrya, god among the gods, the light that is most excellent.