An Āprī Hymn
Rigveda I.142 belongs to the small, distinctive class of Vedic hymns called Āprī sūktas — hymns built from a fixed sequence of ritual deities and elements addressed in a set order at the kindling of the sacrificial fire: Agni newly kindled, Tanūnapāt, Narāśaṃsa, Agni again as bearer of Indra, the strewn barhis grass, the divine doors, Night and Dawn, the two divine priests, the goddesses of speech and river, Tvaṣṭṛ the shaper, Vanaspati the sacrificial post, and finally the offerings themselves called with the cry svāhā. 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. Kindled, O Agni, bring the gods here today to him who holds out the ladle. Stretch out the ancient thread for the devout presser of soma.
2. Tanūnapāt, draw near to the sacrifice rich in ghee and rich in honey, the sacrifice of the inspired man like me, who labors and who gives.
3. Pure, purifying, wondrous, Narāśaṃsa mixes the sacrifice with sweetness — the god worthy of worship among gods, come three times from heaven.
4. Invoked, O Agni, bring Indra here, the brilliant one, the dear one; for this thought of mine moves toward you, O fair-tongued one.
5. Strewing the grass, holding out the ladle, at this well-performed sacrifice, I spread the barhis, most roomy for the gods, a broad shelter for Indra.
6. Let the great doors swing open — the ones that strengthen the sacred order — for the gods to come forward: purifying, much desired, divine, unfailing.
7. Let the two joyful ones sit close together on the barhis, beautifully adorned — Night and Dawn, the youthful mothers of the sacred order.
8. Let the two divine priests, sweet-tongued, ever-praising sages, carry through this sacrifice of ours today, successful, reaching to heaven.
9. Pure, set among the gods — Hotrā, and Bhāratī among the Maruts; Iḷā, Sarasvatī, the great one — let the worshipful goddesses sit upon the barhis.
10. May Tvaṣṭṛ loosen for us that wondrous abundance, rich in boons and rich in forms, of his own accord — for our thriving, for wealth, favoring us at our center.
11. Releasing the offering by yourself, O Lord of the Forest, worship the gods; Agni, the wise god among gods, sends the oblations on well.
12. Make the offering with the cry svāhā — for him accompanied by Pūṣan, accompanied by the Maruts, for the All-Gods, for Vāyu, for the one who quickens to the gāyatrī song, for Indra.
13. Come to the offerings made with the cry svāhā, to partake of them. Come, Indra — hear the call: they call you to the rite.
Translator's note: verse 10 (Tvaṣṭṛ) is among the most syntactically compressed in the hymn; "at our center" renders nābhā, which can mean both a literal navel/hub and a bond of kinship — both senses may be intended together.
Colophon
Rigveda I.142 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.142
samiddho agna ā vaha devām̐ adya yatasruce |
tantuṁ tanuṣva pūrvyaṁ sutasomāya dāśuṣe || 1 ||
ghṛtavantam upa māsi madhumantaṁ tanūnapāt |
yajñaṁ viprasya māvataḥ śaśamānasya dāśuṣaḥ || 2 ||
śuciḥ pāvako adbhuto madhvā yajñam mimikṣati |
narāśaṁsas trir ā divo devo deveṣu yajñiyaḥ || 3 ||
īḻito agna ā vahendraṁ citram iha priyam |
iyaṁ hi tvā matir mamācchā sujihva vacyate || 4 ||
stṛṇānāso yatasruco barhir yajñe svadhvare |
vṛñje devavyacastamam indrāya śarma saprathaḥ || 5 ||
vi śrayantām ṛtāvṛdhaḥ prayai devebhyo mahīḥ |
pāvakāsaḥ puruspṛho dvāro devīr asaścataḥ || 6 ||
ā bhandamāne upāke naktoṣāsā supeśasā |
yahvī ṛtasya mātarā sīdatām barhir ā sumat || 7 ||
mandrajihvā jugurvaṇī hotārā daivyā kavī |
yajñaṁ no yakṣatām imaṁ sidhram adya divispṛśam || 8 ||
śucir deveṣv arpitā hotrā marutsu bhāratī |
iḻā sarasvatī mahī barhiḥ sīdantu yajñiyāḥ || 9 ||
tan nas turīpam adbhutam puru vāram puru tmanā |
tvaṣṭā poṣāya vi ṣyatu rāye nābhā no asmayuḥ || 10 ||
avasṛjann upa tmanā devān yakṣi vanaspate |
agnir havyā suṣūdati devo deveṣu medhiraḥ || 11 ||
pūṣaṇvate marutvate viśvadevāya vāyave |
svāhā gāyatravepase havyam indrāya kartana || 12 ||
svāhākṛtāny ā gahy upa havyāni vītaye |
indrā gahi śrudhī havaṁ tvāṁ havante adhvare || 13 ||
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).