Hymn to Agni and the All-Gods
Rigveda X.128 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. The speaker calls on Agni first and last, and on the whole company of gods between, asking for strength, wide dominion, and protection from enemies and wrongdoing.
1. Mine, O Agni, let there be splendor at the calls to battle; kindling you, may we make our bodies strong. Let the four directions bow down to me; with you as our overseer, may we win our battles.
2. Let all the gods be at my call — the Maruts together with Indra, and Viṣṇu, and Agni. Let the wide mid-air be mine; let the wind blow purely for me, at this wish of mine.
3. Let the gods offer wealth to me through sacrifice; let blessing be in me, let the calling of the gods be in me. The divine priests of old strove for this; may we be unharmed in body, rich in good sons.
4. Let them sacrifice for me whatever offerings are mine; let the intention of my mind come true. Let me not fall into any sin whatsoever; all you gods, speak on our behalf.
5. You six wide goddesses, make wide room for us; all you gods, act with strength here. May we not be abandoned in offspring or in body; may we not be given over to the one who hates us, O King Soma.
6. O Agni, driving back the wrath of our enemies, as an unfailing guardian protect us on every side. Let those who creep against us turn back again; let their intent vanish when they wake to it.
7. The Ordainer of ordainers, who is lord of the world, the god who saves and overcomes hostile plots — may the two Aśvins, and Bṛhaspati, and the gods protect this sacrifice and the one who offers it from ruin.
8. May the wide-ranging mighty one grant us shelter at this invocation — much-invoked, rich in food. You of the tawny horses, Indra, be gracious to us for the sake of offspring; do not harm us, do not forsake us.
9. Whoever our rivals are, let them be driven off; with Indra and Agni we push them down. The Vasus, the Rudras, and the Ādityas have made me one who reaches to the heights, formidable, discerning, a king above kings.
Translator's note: verse 5's "six wide goddesses" (devīḥ ṣaḻ urvīr) names no individual goddesses in the Sanskrit — the count and epithet are kept as given, without supplying identities the text does not. In verse 9 the source reads "mograṁ," almost certainly a transmission variant of "ugraṁ" ("formidable, mighty"); it is translated accordingly.
Colophon
Rigveda X.128 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.128
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.
mamāgne varco vihaveṣv astu vayaṁ tvendhānās tanvam puṣema |
mahyaṁ namantām pradiśaś catasras tvayādhyakṣeṇa pṛtanā jayema || 1 ||
mama devā vihave santu sarva indravanto maruto viṣṇur agniḥ |
mamāntarikṣam urulokam astu mahyaṁ vātaḥ pavatāṁ kāme asmin || 2 ||
mayi devā draviṇam ā yajantām mayy āśīr astu mayi devahūtiḥ |
daivyā hotāro vanuṣanta pūrve 'riṣṭāḥ syāma tanvā suvīrāḥ || 3 ||
mahyaṁ yajantu mama yāni havyākūtiḥ satyā manaso me astu |
eno mā ni gāṁ katamac canāhaṁ viśve devāso adhi vocatā naḥ || 4 ||
devīḥ ṣaḻ urvīr uru naḥ kṛṇota viśve devāsa iha vīrayadhvam |
mā hāsmahi prajayā mā tanūbhir mā radhāma dviṣate soma rājan || 5 ||
agne manyum pratinudan pareṣām adabdho gopāḥ pari pāhi nas tvam |
pratyañco yantu nigutaḥ punas te3 'maiṣāṁ cittam prabudhāṁ vi neśat || 6 ||
dhātā dhātṝṇām bhuvanasya yas patir devaṁ trātāram abhimātiṣāham |
imaṁ yajñam aśvinobhā bṛhaspatir devāḥ pāntu yajamānaṁ nyarthāt || 7 ||
uruvyacā no mahiṣaḥ śarma yaṁsad asmin have puruhūtaḥ purukṣuḥ |
sa naḥ prajāyai haryaśva mṛḻayendra mā no rīriṣo mā parā dāḥ || 8 ||
ye naḥ sapatnā apa te bhavantv indrāgnibhyām ava bādhāmahe tān |
vasavo rudrā ādityā uparispṛśam mograṁ cettāram adhirājam akran || 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).