Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.102 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. May Indra boldly help your chariot forward, mismatched though it is. In this race, much-invoked one, famous for glory, help us in the sharing of the prize.
2. The wind lifted her garment as she won a thousand cattle riding the chariot. Mudgalānī became the charioteer in the cattle-quest; in the contest she, Indra's own strength, cast the winning throw.
3. Hold back the mace of the one who wants to kill, Indra, of the one attacking us. Whether it comes from a Dāsa or an Ārya, bounteous one, keep the deadly blow far away.
4. Exulting, he drank a whole pool of water; he crushes the foe's resistance as he goes against him. The bull, desiring glory, plied his forelegs swiftly, eager to win.
5. Closing in on him, they made him cry out; they made the bull piss in the middle of the race. By him Mudgala won in the contest a thousand and a hundred well-fed cows.
6. For the kaka-race the bull was yoked; his long-haired charioteer shouted. As the unruly one ran on, yoked to the cart, its droppings struck Mudgalānī.
7. And knowing what to do, he knocked the wheel-rim aside and yoked the bull again there, laboring. Indra helped the lord of the cows, and the hump-backed one hastened on with his legs.
8. With the goad, the braided-haired man drove on well, binding the wood to the strap. Doing bold deeds for the sake of many people, watching for the cattle, he gathered his strength.
9. Behold this: the yoke-fellow of the bull, the wooden club lying in the middle of the race-course, by which Mudgala won a thousand and a hundred cows in the contests.
10. Far be misfortune! Who has ever seen the like? Whom they yoke, him they also make stand still; they bring him neither grass nor water — yet the foremost one bears the pole, pointing the way onward.
11. Like a forsaken wife who wins back her husband, she swells with joy, pouring forth as if from a leaking water-wheel. By this very course may we win; may our gain be good fortune, may the prize be ours.
12. You, Indra, are the eye of the whole moving world, the eye behind the eye. When you, a bull yourself, seek to win the race, urging on your gelded yoke-fellow as a bull's companion.
Translator's note: this hymn is built around a folk narrative — Mudgala and his wife Mudgalānī racing a plow-bull yoked to a makeshift cart against rivals, to win a herd of cattle — with Indra invoked at intervals as protector and model. Several words are obscure and rendered conservatively: "niṣpadaḥ" (6) likely means droppings or hoof-strikes; "kakardave" (6) names a specific race or game whose exact form is unknown; "muṣkabhāraḥ" (4, describing the bull) is left implicit in the English rather than spelled out literally; "vadhriṇā" (12, "gelded") describes Indra's yoke-companion in the closing simile.
Colophon
Rigveda X.102 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.102
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.
pra te ratham mithūkṛtam indro 'vatu dhṛṣṇuyā |
asminn ājau puruhūta śravāyye dhanabhakṣeṣu no 'va || 1 ||
ut sma vāto vahati vāso 'syā adhirathaṁ yad ajayat sahasram |
rathīr abhūn mudgalānī gaviṣṭau bhare kṛtaṁ vy aced indrasenā || 2 ||
antar yaccha jighāṁsato vajram indrābhidāsataḥ |
dāsasya vā maghavann āryasya vā sanutar yavayā vadham || 3 ||
udno hradam apibaj jarhṛṣāṇaḥ kūṭaṁ sma tṛṁhad abhimātim eti |
pra muṣkabhāraḥ śrava icchamāno 'jiram bāhū abharat siṣāsan || 4 ||
ny akrandayann upayanta enam amehayan vṛṣabham madhya ājeḥ |
tena sūbharvaṁ śatavat sahasraṁ gavām mudgalaḥ pradhane jigāya || 5 ||
kakardave vṛṣabho yukta āsīd avāvacīt sārathir asya keśī |
dudher yuktasya dravataḥ sahānasa ṛcchanti ṣmā niṣpado mudgalānīm || 6 ||
uta pradhim ud ahann asya vidvān upāyunag vaṁsagam atra śikṣan |
indra ud āvat patim aghnyānām araṁhata padyābhiḥ kakudmān || 7 ||
śunam aṣṭrāvy acarat kapardī varatrāyāṁ dārv ānahyamānaḥ |
nṛmṇāni kṛṇvan bahave janāya gāḥ paspaśānas taviṣīr adhatta || 8 ||
imaṁ tam paśya vṛṣabhasya yuñjaṁ kāṣṭhāyā madhye drughaṇaṁ śayānam |
yena jigāya śatavat sahasraṁ gavām mudgalaḥ pṛtanājyeṣu || 9 ||
āre aghā ko nv i1tthā dadarśa yaṁ yuñjanti tam v ā sthāpayanti |
nāsmai tṛṇaṁ nodakam ā bharanty uttaro dhuro vahati pradediśat || 10 ||
parivṛkteva patividyam ānaṭ pīpyānā kūcakreṇeva siñcan |
eṣaiṣyā cid rathyā jayema sumaṅgalaṁ sinavad astu sātam || 11 ||
tvaṁ viśvasya jagataś cakṣur indrāsi cakṣuṣaḥ |
vṛṣā yad ājiṁ vṛṣaṇā siṣāsasi codayan vadhriṇā yujā || 12 ||
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).