Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.4 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. We call, day after day, on him who shapes fair forms, for his help — as a milker calls to a well-milking cow.
2. Come to our pressings; drink of the soma, O soma-drinker. The rapture of the wealthy one is indeed a giver of cattle.
3. So may we come to know your closest kindnesses. Do not overlook us — come here.
4. Go to the vigorous, unconquered Indra; ask the inspired one, who brings the best gift to his friends.
5. And let the scoffers say of us what they will — let them go off elsewhere — while we hold our devotion to Indra alone.
6. And may the stranger call us fortunate; may the peoples say so too, O wondrous one — for we would stand in Indra's shelter.
7. Bring here the swift soma to the swift one, the glory of the sacrifice, the delighter of men, flowing, gladdening its companion.
8. Having drunk of this, O hundred-powered one, you became the smasher of the Vṛtras; you aided the mighty one in the contests for spoils.
9. You, mighty in the contests, we spur on to strength, O hundred-powered one, O Indra, for the winning of riches.
10. He who is the great guardian of riches, an easy crossing for the soma-presser, his friend — to that Indra, sing.
Translator's note: "surūpakṛtnum" (v. 1) literally means "maker of fair forms" — a somewhat opaque epithet of Indra, rendered here conservatively rather than expanded. "Sudughām iva goduhe" (v. 1) is a simile of a milker calling to a good milk-cow, preserved as such. "Supāraḥ" (v. 10) literally means "having a good crossing/ford"; rendered as "an easy crossing" to preserve the river/ford imagery rather than abstracting it to "helper."
Colophon
Rigveda I.4 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.4
surūpakṛtnum ūtaye sudughām iva goduhe |
juhūmasi dyavi-dyavi || 1 ||
upa naḥ savanā gahi somasya somapāḥ piba |
godā id revato madaḥ || 2 ||
athā te antamānāṁ vidyāma sumatīnām |
mā no ati khya ā gahi || 3 ||
parehi vigram astṛtam indram pṛcchā vipaścitam |
yas te sakhibhya ā varam || 4 ||
uta bruvantu no nido nir anyataś cid ārata |
dadhānā indra id duvaḥ || 5 ||
uta naḥ subhagām̐ arir voceyur dasma kṛṣṭayaḥ |
syāmed indrasya śarmaṇi || 6 ||
em āśum āśave bhara yajñaśriyaṁ nṛmādanam |
patayan mandayatsakham || 7 ||
asya pītvā śatakrato ghano vṛtrāṇām abhavaḥ |
prāvo vājeṣu vājinam || 8 ||
taṁ tvā vājeṣu vājinaṁ vājayāmaḥ śatakrato |
dhanānām indra sātaye || 9 ||
yo rāyo3 'vanir mahān supāraḥ sunvataḥ sakhā |
tasmā indrāya gāyata || 10 ||
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).