Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara
Rigveda I.98 is a short sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni in his aspect as Vaiśvānara — "belonging to all men," the fire common to every household and every people, likened here to a king and set beside the sun. 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. May we stand in the good favor of Vaiśvānara, for he is king, the crowning splendor of the worlds. Born from here, he looks out over this whole universe; Vaiśvānara matches the sun.
2. Agni is sought in heaven, sought on earth, sought — he has entered all the plants. Vaiśvānara, Agni, sought out with power: let him guard us by day, let him guard us from harm by night.
3. O Vaiśvānara, let this word of yours be true: let bounteous riches attend us. Let Mitra and Varuṇa grant us this, and Aditi, the River, Earth, and Heaven too.
Translator's note: "pṛṣṭa" in verse 2 (from the root pracch, "to ask") is rendered "sought" — Agni is the one who is inquired of, called upon, or invoked in heaven, earth, and the plants. "abhiśrīḥ" in verse 1 is rendered "crowning splendor," a compound meaning surpassing glory or radiance.
Colophon
Rigveda I.98 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.98
vaiśvānarasya sumatau syāma rājā hi kam bhuvanānām abhiśrīḥ |
ito jāto viśvam idaṁ vi caṣṭe vaiśvānaro yatate sūryeṇa || 1 ||
pṛṣṭo divi pṛṣṭo agniḥ pṛthivyām pṛṣṭo viśvā oṣadhīr ā viveśa |
vaiśvānaraḥ sahasā pṛṣṭo agniḥ sa no divā sa riṣaḥ pātu naktam || 2 ||
vaiśvānara tava tat satyam astv asmān rāyo maghavānaḥ sacantām |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 3 ||
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).