Hymn to Indra and Agni
Rigveda I.109 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed jointly to Indra and Agni (Indrāgnī), invoked together as a single dual deity — a common pairing in the Rigveda, uniting the god of might and storm with the god of fire and sacrifice. 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 have looked out with my mind, desiring wealth, on Indra and Agni as kinsmen, as my own people. No other providence exists for me but you two. I have fashioned this hymn for you, driving it onward.
2. I have heard indeed that you two are more generous givers than a son-in-law or even a brother-in-law. So now, with soma offered, O Indra and Agni, I bring forth for you a new hymn of praise.
3. Imploring "let us not cut the reins," following the powers our fathers held, the strong ones rejoice for Indra and Agni — for those two are the pressing-stones in the lap of Dhiṣaṇā.
4. For you two, O Indra and Agni, the goddess Dhiṣaṇā eagerly presses out the soma for your exhilaration. You two, like the Aśvins, with blessed hands, with skillful hands, hasten here — mingle it with sweetness in the waters.
5. You two, Indra and Agni, mightiest in the distribution of wealth, have been renowned in the slaying of Vṛtra. Having taken your seat on the sacred grass at this sacrifice, rejoice greatly, you active ones, in the pressed soma.
6. You surpass the peoples in the calls of battle; you surpass the earth and the sky. In greatness you surpass the rivers, you surpass the mountains; O Indra and Agni, you surpass all other worlds.
7. Bring your gifts, grant them, you two with the thunderbolt in your arms; protect us, Indra and Agni, with your powers. These, indeed, are the very rays of the sun by which our fathers once had fellowship.
8. O breakers of strongholds, thunderbolt in hand, grant this; protect us, Indra and Agni, in our battles. May Mitra and Varuṇa bestow that upon us, and Aditi, the River, the Earth, and the Sky.
Translator's note: Verse 3 is textually difficult. "Dhiṣaṇā" is left untranslated as the name of a goddess of insight/devotion associated with the pressing-stones and the sacrificial vessel; "adrī" (the two pressing-stones) and "tā" (those two) are rendered as pointing back to Indra and Agni as the verse's own image suggests, but the exact sense of the line remains uncertain. In verse 5, "carṣaṇī" (dual) is rendered "you active ones," an epithet of Indra and Agni themselves rather than a reference to human peoples, though the word can carry either sense.
Colophon
Rigveda I.109 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.109
vi hy akhyam manasā vasya icchann indrāgnī jñāsa uta vā sajātān |
nānyā yuvat pramatir asti mahyaṁ sa vāṁ dhiyaṁ vājayantīm atakṣam || 1 ||
aśravaṁ hi bhūridāvattarā vāṁ vijāmātur uta vā ghā syālāt |
athā somasya prayatī yuvabhyām indrāgnī stomaṁ janayāmi navyam || 2 ||
mā cchedma raśmīm̐r iti nādhamānāḥ pitṝṇāṁ śaktīr anuyacchamānāḥ |
indrāgnibhyāṁ kaṁ vṛṣaṇo madanti tā hy adrī dhiṣaṇāyā upasthe || 3 ||
yuvābhyāṁ devī dhiṣaṇā madāyendrāgnī somam uśatī sunoti |
tāv aśvinā bhadrahastā supāṇī ā dhāvatam madhunā pṛṅktam apsu || 4 ||
yuvām indrāgnī vasuno vibhāge tavastamā śuśrava vṛtrahatye |
tāv āsadyā barhiṣi yajñe asmin pra carṣaṇī mādayethāṁ sutasya || 5 ||
pra carṣaṇibhyaḥ pṛtanāhaveṣu pra pṛthivyā riricāthe divaś ca |
pra sindhubhyaḥ pra giribhyo mahitvā prendrāgnī viśvā bhuvanāty anyā || 6 ||
ā bharataṁ śikṣataṁ vajrabāhū asmām̐ indrāgnī avataṁ śacībhiḥ |
ime nu te raśmayaḥ sūryasya yebhiḥ sapitvam pitaro na āsan || 7 ||
puraṁdarā śikṣataṁ vajrahastāsmām̐ indrāgnī avatam bhareṣu |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 8 ||
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).