Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.1 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. At the front of the dawns, great and upright, he has stood; having emerged from darkness, he has come with light. Agni, with his shining radiance, fair of limb, as soon as born has filled all the dwelling-places.
2. Born thus, you are the germ of the two world-halves, Agni — lovely, distributed among the plants. A wondrous child amid the darknesses of the nights, bellowing forth from his mothers like cattle.
3. Thus Vishnu, knowing his highest place, born great, watches over the third station. When with their mouths they have made their own milk-offering for him, being of one mind, they sing praise to him here.
4. Then the food-bearing mothers, who make you grow strong on food, come to meet you with their offerings. You go out to meet them again, taking on another form; among the human clans you are the Hotar priest.
5. The Hotar of the wondrous chariot, the shining banner of every sacrifice, the peer in greatness of every god, in splendor — Agni indeed, the guest of the peoples.
6. He indeed, Agni, clothing himself in adorned garments, at the navel of the earth — born ruddy, in the place of Iḷā, set in front as priest — O king, worship the gods here.
7. For you, Agni, have always stretched toward both heaven and earth, as a son toward his two mothers. Go forth to the eager ones, O youngest; and then, O mighty one, bring the gods here.
Translator's note: verse 2's "kanikradad gāḥ" (bellowing/lowing forth) plays on "gāḥ" as both "cows" and a sound of cattle-like crying; rendered here as "bellowing... like cattle" to keep both senses in view. Verse 5 has no finite verb in the Sanskrit — it is a string of epithets for Agni continuing the praise begun in verse 3; the English supplies no content beyond what the string of epithets states.
Colophon
Rigveda X.1 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 X.1
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
agre bṛhann uṣasām ūrdhvo asthān nirjaganvān tamaso jyotiṣāgāt |
agnir bhānunā ruśatā svaṅga ā jāto viśvā sadmāny aprāḥ || 1 ||
sa jāto garbho asi rodasyor agne cārur vibhṛta oṣadhīṣu |
citraḥ śiśuḥ pari tamāṁsy aktūn pra mātṛbhyo adhi kanikradad gāḥ || 2 ||
viṣṇur itthā paramam asya vidvāñ jāto bṛhann abhi pāti tṛtīyam |
āsā yad asya payo akrata svaṁ sacetaso abhy arcanty atra || 3 ||
ata u tvā pitubhṛto janitrīr annāvṛdham prati caranty annaiḥ |
tā īm praty eṣi punar anyarūpā asi tvaṁ vikṣu mānuṣīṣu hotā || 4 ||
hotāraṁ citraratham adhvarasya yajñasya-yajñasya ketuṁ ruśantam |
pratyardhiṁ devasya-devasya mahnā śriyā tv a1gnim atithiṁ janānām || 5 ||
sa tu vastrāṇy adha peśanāni vasāno agnir nābhā pṛthivyāḥ |
aruṣo jātaḥ pada iḻāyāḥ purohito rājan yakṣīha devān || 6 ||
ā hi dyāvāpṛthivī agna ubhe sadā putro na mātarā tatantha |
pra yāhy acchośato yaviṣṭhāthā vaha sahasyeha devān || 7 ||
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).