Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.83 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Indra. Rather than describing Indra's own deeds directly, it recalls the sacrifices and labors of ancient figures — Atharvan, the Aṅgirases, and the sage Uśanā Kāvya — whose devotion and toil are held up as the pattern that pleases Indra and draws his favor down on the mortal sacrificer. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books.
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. The mortal who goes first among the herds, rich in horses, well-aided by your help, O Indra — you fill him, indeed, with ever-growing wealth, as the discerning waters flow around a river.
2. Like goddess-waters they approach the place of offering; they look down as upon a spread-out expanse. The gods lead the god-seeking one forward, toward the east; like suitors they delight in the one dear to sacred speech.
3. You have set the praiseworthy word upon the two — the paired priests who serve, holding out the ladle. Unbound, he dwells and thrives within your ordinance; blessed power comes to the sacrificer who presses the soma.
4. Then the Aṅgirases, their fires kindled, first won strength through their good labor. The men recovered the whole store of the Paṇi's wealth — the cattle, the horses, every head of livestock.
5. By sacrifices, Atharvan first stretched out the paths; then Sūrya was born, guardian of the ordinances, the seer. Uśanā Kāvya drove the cows along with him; we worship the immortal one born together with Yama.
6. Whether the sacred grass is strewn for the sake of good offspring, or the hymn sounds out its praise-song in heaven, wherever the pressing-stone speaks and the poet utters the praiseworthy verse — in that one's approach, Indra takes delight.
Translator's note: several terms in this hymn are genuinely difficult and rendered conservatively. "Vena" (verse 5), describing Sūrya, is a rare word associated with longing, vision, or seer-craft; it is left close to "seer" rather than expanded. "Asaṁyattaḥ" (verse 3, "unbound") and "abhipitveṣu" (verse 6, "in that one's approach") are both terms whose exact ritual sense is debated; conservative, literal renderings are used. The Paṇi (verse 4) are the mythic cattle-hoarding figures whose stolen herds the Aṅgirases recover — a myth referenced rather than narrated in full here.
Colophon
Rigveda I.83 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.83
aśvāvati prathamo goṣu gacchati suprāvīr indra martyas tavotibhiḥ |
tam it pṛṇakṣi vasunā bhavīyasā sindhum āpo yathābhito vicetasaḥ || 1 ||
āpo na devīr upa yanti hotriyam avaḥ paśyanti vitataṁ yathā rajaḥ |
prācair devāsaḥ pra ṇayanti devayum brahmapriyaṁ joṣayante varā iva || 2 ||
adhi dvayor adadhā ukthya1ṁ vaco yatasrucā mithunā yā saparyataḥ |
asaṁyatto vrate te kṣeti puṣyati bhadrā śaktir yajamānāya sunvate || 3 ||
ād aṅgirāḥ prathamaṁ dadhire vaya iddhāgnayaḥ śamyā ye sukṛtyayā |
sarvam paṇeḥ sam avindanta bhojanam aśvāvantaṁ gomantam ā paśuṁ naraḥ || 4 ||
yajñair atharvā prathamaḥ pathas tate tataḥ sūryo vratapā vena ājani |
ā gā ājad uśanā kāvyaḥ sacā yamasya jātam amṛtaṁ yajāmahe || 5 ||
barhir vā yat svapatyāya vṛjyate 'rko vā ślokam āghoṣate divi |
grāvā yatra vadati kārur ukthya1s tasyed indro abhipitveṣu raṇyati || 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).