Āprī Hymn

Rigveda I.13 is an Āprī sūkta — a hymn of a fixed liturgical type recited in animal sacrifice, calling on a set sequence of deities and ritual elements (Agni, the divine doors, Night and Dawn, the sacred grass, and others) to make the offering ready. 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. Well-kindled, O Agni, bring the gods here for the one who holds the oblation. O priest, O purifier, make the offering.

2. O Tanūnapāt, O wise one, make our sacrifice sweet with honey among the gods; prepare it today for their enjoyment.

3. Here, at this sacrifice, I call Narāśaṃsa the beloved, honey-tongued, maker of the oblation.

4. O Agni, most praised, bring the gods here in the most comfortable chariot; you are the priest appointed by Manu.

5. Spread the barhis grass in order, its surface anointed with ghee, O sages — the place where the immortal drink is beheld.

6. Let the divine doors, strengtheners of the sacred order, unfailing, swing open — now, today, for the sacrifice.

7. Here, at this sacrifice, I call Night and Dawn, beautifully adorned, to sit on this barhis of ours.

8. I call the two fair-tongued divine priests, the two sages; let them perform this sacrifice of ours.

9. Iḷā, Sarasvatī, and Mahī — three goddesses who bring delight, unfailing — let them sit on the barhis.

10. Here I call Tvaṣṭṛ, foremost, of every form; let him be ours alone.

11. Release the oblation, O divine lord of the forest, to the gods; let the giver's intent be made known.

12. With the cry svāhā, perform the sacrifice for Indra in the sacrificer's house; there I call the gods.

Translator's note: "Tanūnapāt" and "Narāśaṃsa" (vv. 2–3) are proper names of ritual deities specific to the Āprī genre and are left untranslated. "Vanaspati" (v. 11), the "lord of the forest," names the sacrificial post/tree. "Cetanam" (v. 11) is rendered conservatively as "intent... made known," following its root sense of perception/recognition; the phrase is compressed in the Sanskrit and admits other renderings.

Colophon

Rigveda I.13 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.13

susamiddho na ā vaha devām̐ agne haviṣmate |
hotaḥ pāvaka yakṣi ca || 1 ||

madhumantaṁ tanūnapād yajñaṁ deveṣu naḥ kave |
adyā kṛṇuhi vītaye || 2 ||

narāśaṁsam iha priyam asmin yajña upa hvaye |
madhujihvaṁ haviṣkṛtam || 3 ||

agne sukhatame rathe devām̐ īḻita ā vaha |
asi hotā manurhitaḥ || 4 ||

stṛṇīta barhir ānuṣag ghṛtapṛṣṭham manīṣiṇaḥ |
yatrāmṛtasya cakṣaṇam || 5 ||

vi śrayantām ṛtāvṛdho dvāro devīr asaścataḥ |
adyā nūnaṁ ca yaṣṭave || 6 ||

naktoṣāsā supeśasāsmin yajña upa hvaye |
idaṁ no barhir āsade || 7 ||

tā sujihvā upa hvaye hotārā daivyā kavī |
yajñaṁ no yakṣatām imam || 8 ||

iḻā sarasvatī mahī tisro devīr mayobhuvaḥ |
barhiḥ sīdantv asridhaḥ || 9 ||

iha tvaṣṭāram agriyaṁ viśvarūpam upa hvaye |
asmākam astu kevalaḥ || 10 ||

ava sṛjā vanaspate deva devebhyo haviḥ |
pra dātur astu cetanam || 11 ||

svāhā yajñaṁ kṛṇotanendrāya yajvano gṛhe |
tatra devām̐ upa hvaye || 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).