Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.54 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. May we not fall into distress in these battles, O bounteous one — for there is no reaching the limit of your strength. You made the rivers cry out, the forests roar; how did the two worlds not collapse together in fear?
2. Sing to Śakra, the capable, the powerful one; praise and glorify Indra who hears. With bold might he masters both worlds, the bull, by his bull-nature, as a bull.
3. Sing a potent word to the great heaven — to him whose bold mind is bold and self-ruling; the far-famed, mighty one made strong, driving in front with his two bay horses, for he is the bull, and that is his chariot.
4. You shook the summit of the great sky; by yourself, boldly, you split Śambara open. When you fight the deceitful, mighty Vrandin, exultant, you boldly wield your sharpened hand, the thunderbolt.
5. When you strike down on the head of the panting one — of Śuṣṇa, of Vrandin — the forests roar. With your forward-driving, strength-filled mind, whatever you do even now, who could stand against you?
6. You helped the manly Turvaśa and Yadu; you helped Turvīti and Vayya, O hundred-powered one; you helped Etaśa's chariot in the fight for the prize; you broke open ninety-nine strongholds.
7. That king, lord of good men, indeed thrives — the man who offers oblation and follows his rule, or who proclaims hymns with generosity; for him the lower stream of heaven swells.
8. Unmatched is your dominion, unmatched your wisdom. Let the soma-drinkers among them excel through their work — those, O Indra, who for the giver build up your great dominion, enduring and virile.
9. For you indeed are these many somas, milked from the pressing stone, seated in the vessels, in the cups — drinks for Indra. Drink your fill, satisfy your desire for them; then turn your mind to giving us wealth.
10. The darkness stood, blocking the flow of the waters; the mountain lay within, in the belly of Vṛtra. Indra struck against the rivers that were held back by the obstruction; he strikes down all of them as they stand in their downward courses.
11. Set upon us splendor that increases joy; grant us great, powerful dominion, O Indra, conqueror of peoples. Protect us, O bounteous one; guard our patrons. Grant us wealth, good offspring, and sustenance.
Translator's note: Several proper names in verses 4–6 are demons or human allies named only here or in a handful of Rigvedic passages (Vrandin, Śuṣṇa's associate; Turvīti; Vayya; Etaśa) — their identities are traditional but not otherwise glossed in the hymn itself, so they are kept as names rather than expanded. "kṣatram" (verses 8, 11) is rendered "dominion," covering the sense of ruling power/lordship rather than a narrower political meaning.
Colophon
Rigveda I.54 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.54
mā no asmin maghavan pṛtsv aṁhasi nahi te antaḥ śavasaḥ parīṇaśe |
akrandayo nadyo3 roruvad vanā kathā na kṣoṇīr bhiyasā sam ārata || 1 ||
arcā śakrāya śākine śacīvate śṛṇvantam indram mahayann abhi ṣṭuhi |
yo dhṛṣṇunā śavasā rodasī ubhe vṛṣā vṛṣatvā vṛṣabho nyṛñjate || 2 ||
arcā dive bṛhate śūṣya1ṁ vacaḥ svakṣatraṁ yasya dhṛṣato dhṛṣan manaḥ |
bṛhacchravā asuro barhaṇā kṛtaḥ puro haribhyāṁ vṛṣabho ratho hi ṣaḥ || 3 ||
tvaṁ divo bṛhataḥ sānu kopayo 'va tmanā dhṛṣatā śambaram bhinat |
yan māyino vrandino mandinā dhṛṣac chitāṁ gabhastim aśanim pṛtanyasi || 4 ||
ni yad vṛṇakṣi śvasanasya mūrdhani śuṣṇasya cid vrandino roruvad vanā |
prācīnena manasā barhaṇāvatā yad adyā cit kṛṇavaḥ kas tvā pari || 5 ||
tvam āvitha naryaṁ turvaśaṁ yaduṁ tvaṁ turvītiṁ vayyaṁ śatakrato |
tvaṁ ratham etaśaṁ kṛtvye dhane tvam puro navatiṁ dambhayo nava || 6 ||
sa ghā rājā satpatiḥ śūśuvaj jano rātahavyaḥ prati yaḥ śāsam invati |
ukthā vā yo abhigṛṇāti rādhasā dānur asmā uparā pinvate divaḥ || 7 ||
asamaṁ kṣatram asamā manīṣā pra somapā apasā santu neme |
ye ta indra daduṣo vardhayanti mahi kṣatraṁ sthaviraṁ vṛṣṇyaṁ ca || 8 ||
tubhyed ete bahulā adridugdhāś camūṣadaś camasā indrapānāḥ |
vy aśnuhi tarpayā kāmam eṣām athā mano vasudeyāya kṛṣva || 9 ||
apām atiṣṭhad dharuṇahvaraṁ tamo 'ntar vṛtrasya jaṭhareṣu parvataḥ |
abhīm indro nadyo vavriṇā hitā viśvā anuṣṭhāḥ pravaṇeṣu jighnate || 10 ||
sa śevṛdham adhi dhā dyumnam asme mahi kṣatraṁ janāṣāḻ indra tavyam |
rakṣā ca no maghonaḥ pāhi sūrīn rāye ca naḥ svapatyā iṣe dhāḥ || 11 ||
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).