Dialogue of Indra and the Maruts

Rigveda I.165 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) built as a dialogue between Indra, the storm-king and slayer of Vṛtra, and the Maruts, his troop of young storm-gods. The Maruts ask why Indra rides out alone and question his claim to sole credit for killing the dragon Vṛtra; Indra answers that he fought and won alone, by his own might. The exchange moves from challenge to reconciliation, closing with mutual praise and a poet's prayer for strength. 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. With what splendor have the Maruts, equal in age, of one nest, of one mind, come together? With what intent, from where have these bulls come, chanting of their fury, seeking goods?

2. Whose sacred words have the young men enjoyed? Who has turned the Maruts to the rite? Like falcons speeding through the midair — by what great thought shall we make them pause?

3. From where do you, Indra, mighty as you are, go alone, O lord of the true? What is this of yours? You question and contend with the shining ones. Tell us this, O lord of bay steeds — what you have against us.

4. My prayers, my thoughts are good; the pressed juices, the fury rises, my pressing-stone is brought. They call and delight in these hymns; these two bay steeds carry me here, to them.

5. So we, joining with our nearest kin, adorning our bodies with our own power, now yoke ourselves close to these with our might; for you, Indra, have come to act according to our own nature.

6. Where then was that strength of your own, O Maruts, when you set me alone against the serpent? For I, fierce, strong, mighty, bent down every enemy with my death-dealing weapons.

7. Much have you done, together with us as allies, with our shared manly deeds, O bull. For we shall do many things, most mighty Indra, by our common will, O Maruts, when we so wish.

8. I slew Vṛtra, O Maruts, by my own Indra-power, grown mighty by my own fury. I made these all-shining waters flow easily for Manu, I, with the thunderbolt in my arm.

9. Unsurpassed indeed is this deed of yours, O bounteous one; no god like you is known to exist. Neither one being born nor one already born can reach it — whatever you will do, do it, O greatly grown one.

10. Let even my might alone be sufficient — the things I, being bold, shall accomplish by my own will. For I, O Maruts, am fierce and known; whatever things I have set in motion, of these I, Indra, alone am lord.

11. This hymn of praise delighted me here, O Maruts, when you made for me a prayer worth hearing — for Indra the bull, the good fighter, for me, as friends for a friend, body given for body.

12. So indeed these, shining toward me, blameless, bearing this fame — to be looked upon, O Maruts of moon-bright hue — have pleased me, and now you gratify me still.

13. Who here, O Maruts, has been generous to you? Go forth, friends, to your friends. Let them breathe out their wondrous thoughts; be, for these, one well acquainted with what is right, mine own.

14. When the singer, as one who serves in turn for service, comes to us, the insight of the son of Māna has made us its own. Turn well, O Maruts, toward the inspired poet; let this praiser sing these prayers to you.

15. This is your hymn of praise, O Maruts, this the song of Māndārya, son of Māna, the singer. May this go forth for our own strength; may we find nourishment, vigor, and a swift-giving gift.

Translator's note: several passages are compressed and elliptical in the Sanskrit, with speaker changes between Indra and the Maruts left unmarked, as is typical of this dialogue hymn; the verse divisions above follow the source text, and the attribution of each line to a particular speaker follows the sense of the exchange rather than any explicit marker in the Sanskrit. "Māndārya, son of Māna" (verses 14–15) is the poet's own signature, traditionally identified with the ṛṣi Agastya.

Colophon

Rigveda I.165 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.165

kayā śubhā savayasaḥ sanīḻāḥ samānyā marutaḥ sam mimikṣuḥ |
kayā matī kuta etāsa ete 'rcanti śuṣmaṁ vṛṣaṇo vasūyā || 1 ||

kasya brahmāṇi jujuṣur yuvānaḥ ko adhvare maruta ā vavarta |
śyenām̐ iva dhrajato antarikṣe kena mahā manasā rīramāma || 2 ||

kutas tvam indra māhinaḥ sann eko yāsi satpate kiṁ ta itthā |
sam pṛcchase samarāṇaḥ śubhānair voces tan no harivo yat te asme || 3 ||

brahmāṇi me matayaḥ śaṁ sutāsaḥ śuṣma iyarti prabhṛto me adriḥ |
ā śāsate prati haryanty ukthemā harī vahatas tā no accha || 4 ||

ato vayam antamebhir yujānāḥ svakṣatrebhis tanva1ḥ śumbhamānāḥ |
mahobhir etām̐ upa yujmahe nv indra svadhām anu hi no babhūtha || 5 ||

kva1 syā vo marutaḥ svadhāsīd yan mām ekaṁ samadhattāhihatye |
ahaṁ hy u1gras taviṣas tuviṣmān viśvasya śatror anamaṁ vadhasnaiḥ || 6 ||

bhūri cakartha yujyebhir asme samānebhir vṛṣabha pauṁsyebhiḥ |
bhūrīṇi hi kṛṇavāmā śaviṣṭhendra kratvā maruto yad vaśāma || 7 ||

vadhīṁ vṛtram maruta indriyeṇa svena bhāmena taviṣo babhūvān |
aham etā manave viśvaścandrāḥ sugā apaś cakara vajrabāhuḥ || 8 ||

anuttam ā te maghavan nakir nu na tvāvām̐ asti devatā vidānaḥ |
na jāyamāno naśate na jāto yāni kariṣyā kṛṇuhi pravṛddha || 9 ||

ekasya cin me vibhv a1stv ojo yā nu dadhṛṣvān kṛṇavai manīṣā |
ahaṁ hy u1gro maruto vidāno yāni cyavam indra id īśa eṣām || 10 ||

amandan mā marutaḥ stomo atra yan me naraḥ śrutyam brahma cakra |
indrāya vṛṣṇe sumakhāya mahyaṁ sakhye sakhāyas tanve tanūbhiḥ || 11 ||

eved ete prati mā rocamānā anedyaḥ śrava eṣo dadhānāḥ |
saṁcakṣyā marutaś candravarṇā acchānta me chadayāthā ca nūnam || 12 ||

ko nv atra maruto māmahe vaḥ pra yātana sakhīm̐r acchā sakhāyaḥ |
manmāni citrā apivātayanta eṣām bhūta navedā ma ṛtānām || 13 ||

ā yad duvasyād duvase na kārur asmāñ cakre mānyasya medhā |
o ṣu vartta maruto vipram acchemā brahmāṇi jaritā vo arcat || 14 ||

eṣa vaḥ stomo maruta iyaṁ gīr māndāryasya mānyasya kāroḥ |
eṣā yāsīṣṭa tanve vayāṁ vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 15 ||

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).