Hymn to Indra and Varuṇa
Rigveda I.17 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed jointly to Indra and Varuṇa, invoked together throughout as a single dual pair ("Indrāvaruṇa"). 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. I choose for myself the help of Indra and Varuṇa, the two sovereign kings. May the two of you be gracious to us in this condition of ours.
2. For you two are the ones who come, for our help, to the call of an inspired singer such as I am — you two upholders of the peoples.
3. O Indra and Varuṇa, satisfy us with wealth, as you wish; this we beg of you two, who are nearest to us.
4. May we be partakers of your might, partakers of your good favor — may we belong to you two, the givers of strength.
5. Indra is foremost among the thousandfold givers, Varuṇa among those worthy of praise; their resolve is one worthy of a hymn.
6. By the help of those two alone may we gain, and may we store up wealth; and may there be abundance besides.
7. O Indra and Varuṇa, I call upon you two for brilliant bounty: make us thoroughly victorious.
8. O Indra and Varuṇa, now indeed, in these prayers that seek to win your favor, grant us shelter.
9. May the fine hymn of praise reach you two, O Indra and Varuṇa — the one I utter, the joint praise which you two cause to prosper.
Translator's note: verse 4's "yuvāku ... yuvāku" (literally "belonging to you two ... belonging to you two") is an elliptical construction implying "may we be [partakers/possessors] of"; this has been rendered conservatively as "partakers of." Verse 9's "sadhastuti" ("joint/shared praise") is rendered as "the joint praise."
Colophon
Rigveda I.17 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.17
indrāvaruṇayor ahaṁ samrājor ava ā vṛṇe |
tā no mṛḻāta īdṛśe || 1 ||
gantārā hi stho 'vase havaṁ viprasya māvataḥ |
dhartārā carṣaṇīnām || 2 ||
anukāmaṁ tarpayethām indrāvaruṇa rāya ā |
tā vāṁ nediṣṭham īmahe || 3 ||
yuvāku hi śacīnāṁ yuvāku sumatīnām |
bhūyāma vājadāvnām || 4 ||
indraḥ sahasradāvnāṁ varuṇaḥ śaṁsyānām |
kratur bhavaty ukthyaḥ || 5 ||
tayor id avasā vayaṁ sanema ni ca dhīmahi |
syād uta prarecanam || 6 ||
indrāvaruṇa vām ahaṁ huve citrāya rādhase |
asmān su jigyuṣas kṛtam || 7 ||
indrāvaruṇa nū nu vāṁ siṣāsantīṣu dhīṣv ā |
asmabhyaṁ śarma yacchatam || 8 ||
pra vām aśnotu suṣṭutir indrāvaruṇa yāṁ huve |
yām ṛdhāthe sadhastutim || 9 ||
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).