Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.7 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. Indra indeed — the singers with their lofty hymn sing to Indra; the chanters with their chants sing to Indra; the voices have cried out to Indra.
2. Indra indeed, together with his two bay steeds, yoked at the call of the word, joined as one; Indra, the golden bearer of the thunderbolt.
3. Indra made the sun climb the sky for far-reaching sight; with the cows he set the rock moving and drove it open.
4. Indra, help us in the contests for the prize, and in the battles worth a thousand stakes — mighty one, with your mighty help.
5. We call upon Indra in the great contest, we call upon Indra in the small — the ally against our foes, the wielder of the thunderbolt.
6. You, bull, ever bountiful — take that vessel away from us and clear it, unopposed on our behalf.
7. In onset after onset, the praise-songs for thunder-wielding Indra rise higher, yet I cannot find praise fit for him.
8. Like a bull among the herds, the bull-strong one drives the peoples with his strength — the ruling one, unopposed.
9. He who alone rules the peoples and their goods — Indra, over the five tribes.
10. We call Indra to us from every side, away from other peoples — let him belong to us alone.
Translator's note: verse 6 (satrādāvann, apā vṛdhi) is compressed and its exact ritual referent — a vessel or offering being cleared or removed — is uncertain; the rendering here is conservative. "Five peoples/tribes" (verse 9) and "the peoples" elsewhere translate carṣaṇī / kṛṣṭi, standard Rigvedic terms for human communities, not a specific count of nations.
Colophon
Rigveda I.7 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.7
indram id gāthino bṛhad indram arkebhir arkiṇaḥ |
indraṁ vāṇīr anūṣata || 1 ||
indra id dharyoḥ sacā sammiśla ā vacoyujā |
indro vajrī hiraṇyayaḥ || 2 ||
indro dīrghāya cakṣasa ā sūryaṁ rohayad divi |
vi gobhir adrim airayat || 3 ||
indra vājeṣu no 'va sahasrapradhaneṣu ca |
ugra ugrābhir ūtibhiḥ || 4 ||
indraṁ vayam mahādhana indram arbhe havāmahe |
yujaṁ vṛtreṣu vajriṇam || 5 ||
sa no vṛṣann amuṁ caruṁ satrādāvann apā vṛdhi |
asmabhyam apratiṣkutaḥ || 6 ||
tuñje-tuñje ya uttare stomā indrasya vajriṇaḥ |
na vindhe asya suṣṭutim || 7 ||
vṛṣā yūtheva vaṁsagaḥ kṛṣṭīr iyarty ojasā |
īśāno apratiṣkutaḥ || 8 ||
ya ekaś carṣaṇīnāṁ vasūnām irajyati |
indraḥ pañca kṣitīnām || 9 ||
indraṁ vo viśvatas pari havāmahe janebhyaḥ |
asmākam astu kevalaḥ || 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).