Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.57 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. I bring forward a hymn to the most bounteous, the great one of vast wealth, truly fierce, the powerful one — whose gift, like waters rushing down a slope, hard to hold back, lasting a lifetime, lies thrown open for the sake of strength.
2. Then let everything follow your wish, like waters flowing to low ground — the pressed offerings of the one who brings oblations — when Indra's eager golden bolt, the piercer, converges as if upon a mountain.
3. Bring to this fearsome one, with homage, at the rite, as brightly as Dawn, to him who deserves praise — whose dominion bears the name "Indra's power" for renown; light was made to drive his tawny steeds onward.
4. These are we, Indra, praised by many, who go about holding fast to you, lord of overflowing wealth. For none but you, lover of songs, matches our songs, as rivers reach the lands — favor this speech of ours.
5. Abundant is your heroic strength, Indra; we belong to it — fulfill the wish of this praiser, generous one. Vast heaven follows your might, and this earth of mine bows before your power.
6. You, Indra, split that great broad mountain into pieces with your bolt, wielder of the bolt. You released the penned-up waters to flow free; you alone hold all power entirely for yourself.
Translator's note: verse 2's "yat parvate na samaśīta haryata" is a compressed, syntactically ambiguous clause (literally something like "when the eager one converged/gathered as if upon a mountain") — rendered here conservatively, keeping "converges as if upon a mountain" rather than resolving it further. In verse 5, "mama" ("my/mine") sits awkwardly between "vīryam" and "iyaṁ ... pṛthivī"; it is taken here as modifying "earth" ("this earth of mine"), but the line may be corrupt or elliptical in the source transliteration.
Colophon
Rigveda I.57 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.57
pra maṁhiṣṭhāya bṛhate bṛhadraye satyaśuṣmāya tavase matim bhare |
apām iva pravaṇe yasya durdharaṁ rādho viśvāyu śavase apāvṛtam || 1 ||
adha te viśvam anu hāsad iṣṭaya āpo nimneva savanā haviṣmataḥ |
yat parvate na samaśīta haryata indrasya vajraḥ śnathitā hiraṇyayaḥ || 2 ||
asmai bhīmāya namasā sam adhvara uṣo na śubhra ā bharā panīyase |
yasya dhāma śravase nāmendriyaṁ jyotir akāri harito nāyase || 3 ||
ime ta indra te vayam puruṣṭuta ye tvārabhya carāmasi prabhūvaso |
nahi tvad anyo girvaṇo giraḥ saghat kṣoṇīr iva prati no harya tad vacaḥ || 4 ||
bhūri ta indra vīrya1ṁ tava smasy asya stotur maghavan kāmam ā pṛṇa |
anu te dyaur bṛhatī vīryam mama iyaṁ ca te pṛthivī nema ojase || 5 ||
tvaṁ tam indra parvatam mahām uruṁ vajreṇa vajrin parvaśaś cakartitha |
avāsṛjo nivṛtāḥ sartavā apaḥ satrā viśvaṁ dadhiṣe kevalaṁ sahaḥ || 6 ||
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).