Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.129 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 also names Dyaus, Rudra, Mitra, and Varuṇa in passing as the singer directs his words toward each of the gods in turn before returning to Indra. 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. At once, for our aid, you make him willing and strong. O blameless one, O impetuous one, [hear] this our speech, like the speech of the sages.
2. Who, with heroes, is a winner of his own; who, with the inspired poets, is a conqueror of the prize — him, the powerful ones win over, the vigorous one, rich in nourishment, like a vigorous horse.
3. Indra — and to you I have spoken this, to Dyaus this, to Rudra of his own glory; to Mitra I have spoken, to Varuṇa the wide-spreading, to the gracious one, the wide-spreading.
4. Help our prayer, help us in whatever battles come. For no enemy lays you low — you who lay low every enemy, whomever you lay low.
5. Lead us, as of old, O blameless hero, as you intend. Carry us away from all the dangers of Pūru; as bearer, with your mouth — as bearer, come to us.
6. May he himself, with his weapons, drive scorn and ill-will away from us. May the evil-speaker slip down, downward — may he slip away like a petty thing.
7. May we, with good thoughts, overpower the ill-thinking one, and reach him with our offering. May we come to Indra, the worshipful one, with true invocations, with glorious invocations, with glorious invocations.
8. That harm which draws near us with devourers, to injure us, by itself — let it be struck down, let it not prevail; hurled forth, like a worn-out thing, let it not prevail.
9. Be with us far away; be with us near, at home. Protect us, from far and from near, with your aid; always protect us with your aid.
10. O most powerful, O protector, O helper, O immortal one — spare any chariot of ours. Harm another, not us, whoever it may be, O wielder of the mace — harm even one who intends us harm, O wielder of the mace.
11. Slayer of the evil demon, protector of the inspired poet, of one such as me — for indeed your begetter has begotten you as demon-slayer, O bountiful one, has begotten you, O bountiful one.
Translator's note: Several phrases in this hymn are among the most syntactically compressed and lexically obscure in the Rigveda (notably verses 1, 2, 5, and 8), and scholars disagree on their construction. Verse 5's "pūroḥ" is rendered here as the proper name Pūru (a person or tribe), following one common reading, though "of the stronghold" is also possible; this is flagged as uncertain rather than resolved. Renderings throughout favor a literal, conservative sense over a smoothed paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda I.129 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.129
sadyaś cit tam abhiṣṭaye karo vaśaś ca vājinam |
sāsmākam anavadya tūtujāna vedhasām imāṁ vācaṁ na vedhasām || 1 ||
yaḥ śūraiḥ sva1ḥ sanitā yo viprair vājaṁ tarutā |
tam īśānāsa iradhanta vājinam pṛkṣam atyaṁ na vājinam || 2 ||
indrota tubhyaṁ tad dive tad rudrāya svayaśase |
mitrāya vocaṁ varuṇāya saprathaḥ sumṛḻīkāya saprathaḥ || 3 ||
asmākam brahmotaye 'vā pṛtsuṣu kāsu cit |
nahi tvā śatruḥ starate stṛṇoṣi yaṁ viśvaṁ śatruṁ stṛṇoṣi yam || 4 ||
neṣi ṇo yathā purānenāḥ śūra manyase |
viśvāni pūror apa parṣi vahnir āsā vahnir no accha || 5 ||
svayaṁ so asmad ā nido vadhair ajeta durmatim |
ava sraved aghaśaṁso 'vataram ava kṣudram iva sravet || 6 ||
durmanmānaṁ sumantubhir em iṣā pṛcīmahi |
ā satyābhir indraṁ dyumnahūtibhir yajatraṁ dyumnahūtibhiḥ || 7 ||
svayaṁ sā riṣayadhyai yā na upeṣe atraiḥ |
hatem asan na vakṣati kṣiptā jūrṇir na vakṣati || 8 ||
sacasva naḥ parāka ā sacasvāstamīka ā |
pāhi no dūrād ārād abhiṣṭibhiḥ sadā pāhy abhiṣṭibhiḥ || 9 ||
ojiṣṭha trātar avitā rathaṁ kaṁ cid amartya |
anyam asmad ririṣeḥ kaṁ cid adrivo ririkṣantaṁ cid adrivaḥ || 10 ||
hantā pāpasya rakṣasas trātā viprasya māvataḥ |
adhā hi tvā janitā jījanad vaso rakṣohaṇaṁ tvā jījanad vaso || 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).