Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.11 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Indra, the storm-king and champion of the gods, slayer of Vṛtra, 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. All songs have made Indra grow strong, vast as the ocean — best charioteer of charioteers, the true lord, the master of the prize-winnings.
2. In friendship with you, Indra, strong one, may we not fear, lord of might; we sing out loudly toward you, the conqueror who is never conquered.
3. Many are Indra's gifts; his aids do not run dry, when he grants to his praisers the bounty of cattle-rich spoils.
4. The breaker of forts was born — young, a seer, of measureless power: Indra, sustainer of every deed, the mace-wielder, praised by many.
5. You, wielder of the stone, threw open the cave of Vala, rich in cattle; the gods, unafraid, driven on, came to your aid.
6. By your gifts, hero, I came forth to meet the river as it spoke; the singers stood near you, lover of praise-songs, knowing that deed of yours.
7. By your powers of illusion, Indra, you brought down Śuṣṇa, the master of illusion; the wise know that deed of yours — raise up their fame.
8. The praise-songs have resounded toward Indra the ruler in his might — he whose gifts number a thousand, or even more.
Translator's note: verse 6 (sindhum āvadan, "the river speaking/being spoken to") is compressed and its exact scene is uncertain; rendered conservatively rather than expanded. Vala (v. 5) and Śuṣṇa (v. 7) are named adversaries/obstacles in Indra's myth-cycle; their names are kept untranslated as proper names.
Colophon
Rigveda I.11 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.11
indraṁ viśvā avīvṛdhan samudravyacasaṁ giraḥ |
rathītamaṁ rathīnāṁ vājānāṁ satpatim patim || 1 ||
sakhye ta indra vājino mā bhema śavasas pate |
tvām abhi pra ṇonumo jetāram aparājitam || 2 ||
pūrvīr indrasya rātayo na vi dasyanty ūtayaḥ |
yadī vājasya gomataḥ stotṛbhyo maṁhate magham || 3 ||
purām bhindur yuvā kavir amitaujā ajāyata |
indro viśvasya karmaṇo dhartā vajrī puruṣṭutaḥ || 4 ||
tvaṁ valasya gomato 'pāvar adrivo bilam |
tvāṁ devā abibhyuṣas tujyamānāsa āviṣuḥ || 5 ||
tavāhaṁ śūra rātibhiḥ praty āyaṁ sindhum āvadan |
upātiṣṭhanta girvaṇo viduṣ ṭe tasya kāravaḥ || 6 ||
māyābhir indra māyinaṁ tvaṁ śuṣṇam avātiraḥ |
viduṣ ṭe tasya medhirās teṣāṁ śravāṁsy ut tira || 7 ||
indram īśānam ojasābhi stomā anūṣata |
sahasraṁ yasya rātaya uta vā santi bhūyasīḥ || 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).