Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.14 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. Here Agni is called on as hotā — the invoking priest — to yoke his chariot-steeds and bring the whole company of gods to drink the soma pressed for them. 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. With these devoted songs, O Agni, all of them, for the drinking of soma — come with the gods, and offer sacrifice.
2. The Kanvas have called you; the inspired poets sing your praises. Come here, O Agni, with the gods.
3. Indra and Vāyu, Bṛhaspati, Mitra and Agni, Pūṣan, Bhaga, the Ādityas, the troop of Maruts —
4. for you the soma drops are brought forth, exhilarating, intoxicating — the drops of sweetness, sitting in the cups.
5. The Kanvas, seeking your favor, having strewn the sacred grass, bearing oblations, all made ready, call on you.
6. The ghee-backed steeds, yoked by thought, who carry you — bring the gods here for the soma-drink.
7. Make those worshipful ones, who strengthen the sacred order, come with their wives, O Agni; give them the sweetness to drink, O fair-tongued one.
8. Those who are worthy of worship, who are to be invoked — let them drink the sweetness by your tongue, O Agni, at the vaṣaṭ-call.
9. From the luminous realm of the sun, the inspired one, the invoking priest, will bring here all the gods who wake at dawn.
10. Drink the soma-sweetness with all the gods, O Agni, together with Indra and Vāyu, by the domains of Mitra.
11. You, O Agni, the invoking priest set here for mankind, sit down at the sacrifices; so worship this rite of ours.
12. Yoke indeed your ruddy mares to the chariot, O god, the tawny ones, the red ones; with them bring the gods here.
Translator's note: In verse 9 the word "ākīm" resists a confident parse — it may be corrupt or an otherwise unattested form. It has been left untranslated rather than guessed at; the rest of the verse's sense (Agni as hotā bringing the dawn-waking gods from the sun's light) is clear from context.
Colophon
Rigveda I.14 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.14
aibhir agne duvo giro viśvebhiḥ somapītaye |
devebhir yāhi yakṣi ca || 1 ||
ā tvā kaṇvā ahūṣata gṛṇanti vipra te dhiyaḥ |
devebhir agna ā gahi || 2 ||
indravāyū bṛhaspatim mitrāgnim pūṣaṇam bhagam |
ādityān mārutaṁ gaṇam || 3 ||
pra vo bhriyanta indavo matsarā mādayiṣṇavaḥ |
drapsā madhvaś camūṣadaḥ || 4 ||
īḻate tvām avasyavaḥ kaṇvāso vṛktabarhiṣaḥ |
haviṣmanto araṁkṛtaḥ || 5 ||
ghṛtapṛṣṭhā manoyujo ye tvā vahanti vahnayaḥ |
ā devān somapītaye || 6 ||
tān yajatrām̐ ṛtāvṛdho 'gne patnīvatas kṛdhi |
madhvaḥ sujihva pāyaya || 7 ||
ye yajatrā ya īḍyās te te pibantu jihvayā |
madhor agne vaṣaṭkṛti || 8 ||
ākīṁ sūryasya rocanād viśvān devām̐ uṣarbudhaḥ |
vipro hoteha vakṣati || 9 ||
viśvebhiḥ somyam madhv agna indreṇa vāyunā |
pibā mitrasya dhāmabhiḥ || 10 ||
tvaṁ hotā manurhito 'gne yajñeṣu sīdasi |
semaṁ no adhvaraṁ yaja || 11 ||
yukṣvā hy aruṣī rathe harito deva rohitaḥ |
tābhir devām̐ ihā vaha || 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).