Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.102 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Indra, the storm-king and champion of the gods, lord of thunder and rain. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. I bring forward this great, mighty hymn of yours — the insight that has adorned it for your praiser. The gods rejoiced, following ever-victorious Indra, with his strength, at the feast and at the urging-on.
2. The seven rivers carry his fame; heaven and earth bear his visible splendor. For us, sun and moon move on to be seen, in trust — crossing forward, O Indra.
3. Speed forward that victorious chariot of yours, O bounteous one, for our winning — the one we cheered on with you at the gathering. In the contest, O much-praised Indra, with our whole heart — grant shelter, O bounteous one, to us who are devoted to you.
4. May we, with you as our ally, win what is contested; help forward our share in battle after battle. Make for us, O Indra, open room and easy going; break, O bounteous one, the strength of our enemies.
5. These people call on you, each in their own way, O sustainer of riches, eager for your help. Mount our chariot for our winning — for it is victorious, Indra, since your mind is firmly set on us.
6. With arms that win cattle, of boundless will indeed — in every deed a hundredfold helper, the stirrer of the fray — Indra has no match in strength. So people, eager to win spoils, call out to him from every side.
7. Your fame, bounteous one, rises above a hundred, above still more; your renown among the peoples exceeds a thousand. Great devotion has made you immeasurable, and so you smite the obstructions, O breaker of strongholds.
8. Threefold is the measure of your strength, O lord of men — the three earths, the three realms of light. You have outgrown this whole world; you are, Indra, without a rival from birth, from ancient times.
9. You we call upon first among the gods; you have proven yourself victorious in battles. May Indra make our singer Upamanyu one who breaks through to success, and set our chariot in front at the start.
10. You have won, you have not held back, our prizes — in small contests and in great, O bounteous one. We sharpen you, the mighty one, for our aid; so, Indra, spur us on when we call.
11. May Indra always be our advocate; unhindered, may we win the prize. May Mitra and Varuṇa grant us this, and Aditi, the River, Earth, and Heaven.
Translator's note: Verse 2's second half (asme sūryācandramasābhicakṣe śraddhe kam indra carato vitarturam) is syntactically compressed and its precise sense is debated; the rendering above follows the literal images (sun and moon moving into view, in trust) conservatively rather than smoothing them into a confident paraphrase. In verse 8, triviṣṭidhātu ("threefold-founded/threefold-based") is an unusual compound rendered here as "threefold is the measure," keeping close to its literal sense. Verse 9 names the poet Upamanyu, kept as a proper name rather than translated.
Colophon
Rigveda I.102 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.102
imāṁ te dhiyam pra bhare maho mahīm asya stotre dhiṣaṇā yat ta ānaje |
tam utsave ca prasave ca sāsahim indraṁ devāsaḥ śavasāmadann anu || 1 ||
asya śravo nadyaḥ sapta bibhrati dyāvākṣāmā pṛthivī darśataṁ vapuḥ |
asme sūryācandramasābhicakṣe śraddhe kam indra carato vitarturam || 2 ||
taṁ smā ratham maghavan prāva sātaye jaitraṁ yaṁ te anumadāma saṁgame |
ājā na indra manasā puruṣṭuta tvāyadbhyo maghavañ charma yaccha naḥ || 3 ||
vayaṁ jayema tvayā yujā vṛtam asmākam aṁśam ud avā bhare-bhare |
asmabhyam indra varivaḥ sugaṁ kṛdhi pra śatrūṇām maghavan vṛṣṇyā ruja || 4 ||
nānā hi tvā havamānā janā ime dhanānāṁ dhartar avasā vipanyavaḥ |
asmākaṁ smā ratham ā tiṣṭha sātaye jaitraṁ hīndra nibhṛtam manas tava || 5 ||
gojitā bāhū amitakratuḥ simaḥ karman-karmañ chatamūtiḥ khajaṁkaraḥ |
akalpa indraḥ pratimānam ojasāthā janā vi hvayante siṣāsavaḥ || 6 ||
ut te śatān maghavann uc ca bhūyasa ut sahasrād ririce kṛṣṭiṣu śravaḥ |
amātraṁ tvā dhiṣaṇā titviṣe mahy adhā vṛtrāṇi jighnase puraṁdara || 7 ||
triviṣṭidhātu pratimānam ojasas tisro bhūmīr nṛpate trīṇi rocanā |
atīdaṁ viśvam bhuvanaṁ vavakṣithāśatrur indra januṣā sanād asi || 8 ||
tvāṁ deveṣu prathamaṁ havāmahe tvam babhūtha pṛtanāsu sāsahiḥ |
semaṁ naḥ kārum upamanyum udbhidam indraḥ kṛṇotu prasave ratham puraḥ || 9 ||
tvaṁ jigetha na dhanā rurodhithārbheṣv ājā maghavan mahatsu ca |
tvām ugram avase saṁ śiśīmasy athā na indra havaneṣu codaya || 10 ||
viśvāhendro adhivaktā no astv aparihvṛtāḥ sanuyāma vājam |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 11 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).