Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.12 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. 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. We choose Agni as our messenger, as priest possessing all riches, the wise performer of this sacrifice.
2. Agni, Agni — with invocations they ever call him, the lord of the people, the carrier of oblations, dear to many.
3. O Agni, bring the gods here, born for the one who has spread the sacred grass; you are our priest worthy of praise.
4. Wake those eager gods, O Agni, when you go on your errand as messenger; sit with the gods upon the sacred grass.
5. O shining one fed with ghee-offerings, burn back the harmful ones; O Agni, burn those beset by demons.
6. With Agni, Agni is kindled — the wise one, the young lord of the house, carrier of oblations, whose mouth is the sacrificial ladle.
7. Praise the wise Agni at the sacrifice, whose laws are true, the god who drives away disease.
8. O Agni, whoever, as lord of the oblation, honors you, god, as messenger — be his protector.
9. Whoever with oblation seeks to draw Agni to the gods' feast — to him, O purifying one, be gracious.
10. You, O purifying, shining Agni — bring the gods here to us, to our sacrifice and our oblation.
11. Praised by us with this newest gāyatrī hymn, bring us wealth full of strong sons, and abundant food.
12. O Agni, with your bright flame, with all the invocations of the gods, take delight in this hymn of praise from us.
Translator's note: "juhvāsyaḥ" (v. 6) literally means "having the juhū (offering-ladle) as mouth" — a compact image of the flame rising from the sacrificial ladle, rendered here descriptively rather than compressed into a single English compound.
Colophon
Rigveda I.12 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.12
agniṁ dūtaṁ vṛṇīmahe hotāraṁ viśvavedasam |
asya yajñasya sukratum || 1 ||
agnim-agniṁ havīmabhiḥ sadā havanta viśpatim |
havyavāham purupriyam || 2 ||
agne devām̐ ihā vaha jajñāno vṛktabarhiṣe |
asi hotā na īḍyaḥ || 3 ||
tām̐ uśato vi bodhaya yad agne yāsi dūtyam |
devair ā satsi barhiṣi || 4 ||
ghṛtāhavana dīdivaḥ prati ṣma riṣato daha |
agne tvaṁ rakṣasvinaḥ || 5 ||
agnināgniḥ sam idhyate kavir gṛhapatir yuvā |
havyavāḍ juhvāsyaḥ || 6 ||
kavim agnim upa stuhi satyadharmāṇam adhvare |
devam amīvacātanam || 7 ||
yas tvām agne haviṣpatir dūtaṁ deva saparyati |
tasya sma prāvitā bhava || 8 ||
yo agniṁ devavītaye haviṣmām̐ āvivāsati |
tasmai pāvaka mṛḻaya || 9 ||
sa naḥ pāvaka dīdivo 'gne devām̐ ihā vaha |
upa yajñaṁ haviś ca naḥ || 10 ||
sa naḥ stavāna ā bhara gāyatreṇa navīyasā |
rayiṁ vīravatīm iṣam || 11 ||
agne śukreṇa śociṣā viśvābhir devahūtibhiḥ |
imaṁ stomaṁ juṣasva naḥ || 12 ||
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).