Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.178 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. If that readiness of yours to listen is real, Indra — the readiness by which you have been a help to your singers — then do not let our great desire go unanswered. May I obtain all of it from you, throughout my life.
2. Truly, king Indra, they do not deceive us — those sister streams that make their place in the source. Even the swift waters have served him. Let Indra come to us, bringing friendship and vigor.
3. Indra, the hero, conquers with his men in battles; he hears the call of the suppliant singer. He brings the chariot near to the one who gives offerings, and rises up to meet the songs of praise of his own accord, when it happens.
4. So too, with his men, Indra — reaching for good fame — becomes the one who consumes the strength of the rival power. In the contest for sustenance, at the decisive word, the praise of the sacrificer who holds it all together is sung.
5. With you, bountiful Indra, may we overcome enemies who think themselves great. You are our protector; you have been the one who makes us grow. May we find that strength — a swiftly-giving troop.
Translator's note: verse 4 is the most difficult in the hymn. "prakhādaḥ pṛkṣo abhi mitriṇaḥ" (roughly "devourer of the strength/food of the one with allies") and "samarye... satrākaraḥ" ("in the contest... who unites/holds together") are rendered conservatively here; the exact economic or martial sense of the contest being described is not fully certain from the Sanskrit alone.
Colophon
Rigveda I.178 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.178
yad dha syā ta indra śruṣṭir asti yayā babhūtha jaritṛbhya ūtī |
mā naḥ kāmam mahayantam ā dhag viśvā te aśyām pary āpa āyoḥ || 1 ||
na ghā rājendra ā dabhan no yā nu svasārā kṛṇavanta yonau |
āpaś cid asmai sutukā aveṣan gaman na indraḥ sakhyā vayaś ca || 2 ||
jetā nṛbhir indraḥ pṛtsu śūraḥ śrotā havaṁ nādhamānasya kāroḥ |
prabhartā rathaṁ dāśuṣa upāka udyantā giro yadi ca tmanā bhūt || 3 ||
evā nṛbhir indraḥ suśravasyā prakhādaḥ pṛkṣo abhi mitriṇo bhūt |
samarya iṣaḥ stavate vivāci satrākaro yajamānasya śaṁsaḥ || 4 ||
tvayā vayam maghavann indra śatrūn abhi ṣyāma mahato manyamānān |
tvaṁ trātā tvam u no vṛdhe bhūr vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 5 ||
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).