Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.69 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. 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. Bright, blazing, like the lover of Dawn, he has filled the two joined worlds, like the light of heaven.
2. Born forth on every side, you have become great through your own power; you became father of the gods, though being their son.
3. Agni the ordainer, undeceived, discerning — like the udder of the cows, the sweetness of foods.
4. Dear as one dear among people, fit to be called on, seated in the middle, delightful in the house.
5. Like a son newly born, delightful in the house, like a pleased courser — may he carry the clans safely through.
6. When I called the clans together with my kinsmen, may Agni, through his godhead, reach all things.
7. No one diminishes these ordinances of yours, since you have granted these men your ready favor.
8. That indeed is your wondrous power: when, joined with your peer companions, you struck and laid bare their evil deeds.
9. Like the lover of Dawn, far-shining, ruddy, of well-known form — may he take heed for this one.
10. Carrying him by their own strength, they threw the doors wide open; all cried out at the sight of heaven's light.
Translator's note: this hymn is terse and elliptical even by Rigvedic standards, and several turns of phrase (e.g. verse 8's "struck and laid bare their evil deeds," verse 9's "take heed for this one") admit more than one defensible reading. The renderings above follow the most natural sense of each Sanskrit word in context; no interpretive claim beyond that is intended.
Colophon
Rigveda I.69 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.69
śukraḥ śuśukvām̐ uṣo na jāraḥ paprā samīcī divo na jyotiḥ || 1 ||
pari prajātaḥ kratvā babhūtha bhuvo devānām pitā putraḥ san || 2 ||
vedhā adṛpto agnir vijānann ūdhar na gonāṁ svādmā pitūnām || 3 ||
jane na śeva āhūryaḥ san madhye niṣatto raṇvo duroṇe || 4 ||
putro na jāto raṇvo duroṇe vājī na prīto viśo vi tārīt || 5 ||
viśo yad ahve nṛbhiḥ sanīḻā agnir devatvā viśvāny aśyāḥ || 6 ||
nakiṣ ṭa etā vratā minanti nṛbhyo yad ebhyaḥ śruṣṭiṁ cakartha || 7 ||
tat tu te daṁso yad ahan samānair nṛbhir yad yukto vive rapāṁsi || 8 ||
uṣo na jāro vibhāvosraḥ saṁjñātarūpaś ciketad asmai || 9 ||
tmanā vahanto duro vy ṛṇvan navanta viśve sva1r dṛśīke || 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).