Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.121 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 recalls several strands of Indra's mythology — the propping apart of heaven and earth, the killing of Vṛtra "the boar" lying in the waters, the aid he gave the hero Kutsa against the demon Śuṣṇa, and the forging of his thunderbolt by the sage-poet Uśanā Kāvya. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books.
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. How will he — swift, the vessel of those devoted to the gods — hear the men, the songs of the Aṅgirases? When he comes forth to the clans, the worshipful one strides wide through the hall, at the rite.
2. He indeed made the sky firm as a support; the skillful one scattered wealth for the men's strength, for the prize of the cow. The mighty bull gazed upon his own herd, the female — the mother of the horse, around the cow.
3. The king, swift, reached the ancient call — the call of the ruddy ones, of the clans, of the Aṅgirases — day after day. He fashioned the thunderbolt, the yoked team, and fixed heaven firm, for the four-footed and for the two-footed man.
4. In the ecstasy of this offering you gave, for the sake of truth, the sun-bright, hidden host of the ruddy cows. When in the onrush the three-peaked barrier turned back, you threw open the doors of man, away from harm.
5. For you the two parents, active and stirring, brought milk, a bounteous gift rich in seed, for the swift one. They worshipped with your pure inheritance — the milk of the cow that yields sweetness.
6. Then the swift one was born forth; let it gladden us, let it shine like the sun of this dawn. The soma-drop, by which — with sweat-won offerings — he attained his goal, pouring with the ladle toward the divine abode, with praise.
7. When, with good kindling, the wood-dwelling one, sun-like, would work at the rite, around the cattle-pens — when indeed you shine forth day after day upon the deeds to be done, for the one without rival, the cattle-seeker, the mighty one.
8. He harnessed here, from the great heaven yonder, the two bay steeds, striving toward the glory-conquering spring. They milked out for you, for your growth, the tawny, exhilarating soma, impetuous as a bull, akin to the wind, with the pressing stones.
9. You rolled back the iron weapon, the stone from heaven, brought near skillfully. There, much-invoked one, conquering for Kutsa's sake, you pursue Śuṣṇa with boundless deadly blows.
10. Before, when the sun was freed from the approach of darkness — O wielder of the stone mace, hurl your weapon at Phaliga. And that well-bound strength of Śuṣṇa, wrapped about from around heaven — that you seized.
11. Following you, the two great ones, Heaven and Earth, wrought this deed — let them rejoice, Indra, in it. You put Vṛtra to sleep, the boar lying in the streams, with the great thunderbolt.
12. You, Indra, heroic, helped the men whom you favored; you mounted the best-yoked, swiftest steeds of the wind. The exhilarating, Vṛtra-slaying, decisive thunderbolt — the one Uśanā Kāvya fashioned and gave to you.
13. You, Indra, stopped the tawny mares of the sun for the men's sake; Etaśa carried the wheel, as this sun does. Onward to the far shore of the ninety navigable rivers, you rolled the non-sacrificers into the pit.
14. Protect us, Indra, wielder of the thunderbolt, from this malevolence, from misfortune, in this encounter. Grant us chariot-borne prizes founded on horses, for nourishment, for fame, for gracious bounty.
15. Let your favor not waste away from us, O you of great might; may our offerings of food come together to you. Grant us a share, bounteous one, in the cattle of the rival lord; may we be your most generous companions at the feast.
Translator's note: this hymn is among the most syntactically compressed and allusive in the Rigveda. Verses 2 and 4–10 in particular rest on riddle-like mythological shorthand (the Ṛbhus, cow and horse imagery, the demons Śuṣṇa and Phaliga, the "three-peaked" barrier) whose precise referents are debated among Vedic scholars. The rendering above follows the Sanskrit words conservatively, verse by verse, without smoothing over that difficulty or supplying an interpretation the text itself does not state.
Colophon
Rigveda I.121 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.121
kad itthā nṝm̐ḥ pātraṁ devayatāṁ śravad giro aṅgirasāṁ turaṇyan |
pra yad ānaḍ viśa ā harmyasyoru kraṁsate adhvare yajatraḥ || 1 ||
stambhīd dha dyāṁ sa dharuṇam pruṣāyad ṛbhur vājāya draviṇaṁ naro goḥ |
anu svajām mahiṣaś cakṣata vrām menām aśvasya pari mātaraṁ goḥ || 2 ||
nakṣad dhavam aruṇīḥ pūrvyaṁ rāṭ turo viśām aṅgirasām anu dyūn |
takṣad vajraṁ niyutaṁ tastambhad dyāṁ catuṣpade naryāya dvipāde || 3 ||
asya made svaryaṁ dā ṛtāyāpīvṛtam usriyāṇām anīkam |
yad dha prasarge trikakum nivartad apa druho mānuṣasya duro vaḥ || 4 ||
tubhyam payo yat pitarāv anītāṁ rādhaḥ suretas turaṇe bhuraṇyū |
śuci yat te rekṇa āyajanta sabardughāyāḥ paya usriyāyāḥ || 5 ||
adha pra jajñe taraṇir mamattu pra rocy asyā uṣaso na sūraḥ |
indur yebhir āṣṭa sveduhavyaiḥ sruveṇa siñcañ jaraṇābhi dhāma || 6 ||
svidhmā yad vanadhitir apasyāt sūro adhvare pari rodhanā goḥ |
yad dha prabhāsi kṛtvyām̐ anu dyūn anarviśe paśviṣe turāya || 7 ||
aṣṭā maho diva ādo harī iha dyumnāsāham abhi yodhāna utsam |
hariṁ yat te mandinaṁ dukṣan vṛdhe gorabhasam adribhir vātāpyam || 8 ||
tvam āyasam prati vartayo gor divo aśmānam upanītam ṛbhvā |
kutsāya yatra puruhūta vanvañ chuṣṇam anantaiḥ pariyāsi vadhaiḥ || 9 ||
purā yat sūras tamaso apītes tam adrivaḥ phaligaṁ hetim asya |
śuṣṇasya cit parihitaṁ yad ojo divas pari sugrathitaṁ tad ādaḥ || 10 ||
anu tvā mahī pājasī acakre dyāvākṣāmā madatām indra karman |
tvaṁ vṛtram āśayānaṁ sirāsu maho vajreṇa siṣvapo varāhum || 11 ||
tvaṁ indra naryo yām̐ avo nṝn tiṣṭhā vātasya suyujo vahiṣṭhān |
yaṁ te kāvya uśanā mandinaṁ dād vṛtrahaṇam pāryaṁ tatakṣa vajram || 12 ||
tvaṁ sūro harito rāmayo nṝn bharac cakram etaśo nāyam indra |
prāsya pāraṁ navatiṁ nāvyānām api kartam avartayo 'yajyūn || 13 ||
tvaṁ no asyā indra durhaṇāyāḥ pāhi vajrivo duritād abhīke |
pra no vājān rathyo3 aśvabudhyān iṣe yandhi śravase sūnṛtāyai || 14 ||
mā sā te asmat sumatir vi dasad vājapramahaḥ sam iṣo varanta |
ā no bhaja maghavan goṣv aryo maṁhiṣṭhās te sadhamādaḥ syāma || 15 ||
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).