Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.130 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. We call you, bringing offerings, together with the pressed soma, like sons calling a father — for the winning of strength, you the most bountiful one, for the winning of strength.
2. For the delightful, most powerful exhilaration, for your nourishment — may the tawny steeds bring you here, as they bring the sun, as all the days bring the sun.
3. Wishing to win, like a pen of cows, the mace-bearer, foremost of the Aṅgirases — Indra threw open the enclosed doors of nourishment, the enclosed nourishment.
4. Wrapped in might, in powers, Indra, in greatness, you hew down like a carpenter felling a forest tree — you hew down like one wielding an axe.
5. From here they yoked their aids to one unfailing purpose, like all-yielding milk-cows for Manu, for the people — all-yielding.
6. Adorning, inspired one, the noble racer for the contests, like a courser — for strength, for winning; all riches, for the winning of riches.
7. For Atithigva the fierce one brought Śambara down from the mountain, dealing out great riches by his might — all riches by his might.
8. Ruling for Manu over those without rites, he subdued the black skin; he burns up everyone who rushes at him thirsting for battle, as skill burns — he burns the one who charges.
9. When Uśanā the sage came from afar for your help, you brought all favors, overcoming, as for Manu — as all the days overcome.
10. You, whose deeds are a bull's, breaker of strongholds — protect us with new hymns, with capable defenses; praised by the sons of Divodāsa, Indra, may you grow strong, as the sky grows day by day.
Translator's note: verse 3's "enclosed doors of nourishment" (parīvṛtā dvāra iṣaḥ) is the cow-pen/dawn-cave image common in Vṛtra-cycle hymns, kept literal rather than expanded. Verse 8's "black skin" (kṛṣṇā tvac) is a stock Rigvedic term for Indra's dark-skinned adversaries (Dasyus); its comparison to dakṣa ("skill" or "capacity") is obscure and is rendered conservatively rather than interpreted. Verse 9's turvaṇi ("overcoming") is left as a spare adjective since the line's exact syntax connecting Uśanā's arrival to Manu is compressed in the Sanskrit.
Colophon
Rigveda I.130 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.130
havāmahe tvā vayam prayasvantaḥ sute sacā |
putrāso na pitaraṁ vājasātaye maṁhiṣṭhaṁ vājasātaye || 1 ||
madāya haryatāya te tuviṣṭamāya dhāyase |
ā tvā yacchantu harito na sūryam ahā viśveva sūryam || 2 ||
vrajaṁ vajrī gavām iva siṣāsann aṅgirastamaḥ |
apāvṛṇod iṣa indraḥ parīvṛtā dvāra iṣaḥ parīvṛtāḥ || 3 ||
saṁvivyāna ojasā śavobhir indra majmanā |
taṣṭeva vṛkṣaṁ vanino ni vṛścasi paraśveva ni vṛścasi || 4 ||
ita ūtīr ayuñjata samānam artham akṣitam |
dhenūr iva manave viśvadohaso janāya viśvadohasaḥ || 5 ||
śumbhanto jenyaṁ yathā vājeṣu vipra vājinam |
atyam iva śavase sātaye dhanā viśvā dhanāni sātaye || 6 ||
atithigvāya śambaraṁ girer ugro avābharat |
maho dhanāni dayamāna ojasā viśvā dhanāny ojasā || 7 ||
manave śāsad avratān tvacaṁ kṛṣṇām arandhayat |
dakṣan na viśvaṁ tatṛṣāṇam oṣati ny arśasānam oṣati || 8 ||
uśanā yat parāvato 'jagann ūtaye kave |
sumnāni viśvā manuṣeva turvaṇir ahā viśveva turvaṇiḥ || 9 ||
sa no navyebhir vṛṣakarmann ukthaiḥ purāṁ dartaḥ pāyubhiḥ pāhi śagmaiḥ |
divodāsebhir indra stavāno vāvṛdhīthā ahobhir iva dyauḥ || 10 ||
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).