Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.74 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. Advancing to the rite, let us speak a hymn to Agni, who hears us whether far away or near.
2. He who, foremost among the allied peoples gathered together, guarded the household wealth for the one who brings offerings.
3. And let the people declare: Agni, the slayer of Vṛtra, has risen up — winner of the prize in battle after battle.
4. You are the messenger in whosever house you dwell; you carry the offerings for their enjoyment; skillfully you perform the rite.
5. Him indeed, O Aṅgiras, son of strength — easy to call on, a true god — the people name the one of the good sacrificial grass.
6. And bring the gods here for their praise, O brightly shining one, bring the offerings for their enjoyment.
7. No sound of horses' hooves is heard at all, nor of the chariot, when you go, Agni, on your errand.
8. Aided by you, the bold and vigorous one — the later surpassing the one before — the pious giver has stood forth, O Agni.
9. And you win, Agni, a shining greatness rich in strong sons, for the gods, O god, and for the one who gives offerings.
Translator's note: verse 8 is compressed in the Sanskrit (a comparative "the later [one] beyond the former") and its exact referent — successive worshippers, or successive gifts — is not fully certain; rendered conservatively here. "Vṛtra" (v. 3) is the serpent/obstacle slain by Indra; Agni is here credited with the same victory-epithet ("Vṛtra-slayer") as a title of martial power. "Aṅgiras" (v. 5) is a name applied to Agni as head of the Aṅgirasas, a lineage of ancient priest-seers.
Colophon
Rigveda I.74 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.74
upaprayanto adhvaram mantraṁ vocemāgnaye |
āre asme ca śṛṇvate || 1 ||
yaḥ snīhitīṣu pūrvyaḥ saṁjagmānāsu kṛṣṭiṣu |
arakṣad dāśuṣe gayam || 2 ||
uta bruvantu jantava ud agnir vṛtrahājani |
dhanaṁjayo raṇe-raṇe || 3 ||
yasya dūto asi kṣaye veṣi havyāni vītaye |
dasmat kṛṇoṣy adhvaram || 4 ||
tam it suhavyam aṅgiraḥ sudevaṁ sahaso yaho |
janā āhuḥ subarhiṣam || 5 ||
ā ca vahāsi tām̐ iha devām̐ upa praśastaye |
havyā suścandra vītaye || 6 ||
na yor upabdir aśvyaḥ śṛṇve rathasya kac cana |
yad agne yāsi dūtyam || 7 ||
tvoto vājy ahrayo 'bhi pūrvasmād aparaḥ |
pra dāśvām̐ agne asthāt || 8 ||
uta dyumat suvīryam bṛhad agne vivāsasi |
devebhyo deva dāśuṣe || 9 ||
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).