Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.147 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. I place my trust in your first fury, when you slew Vṛtra and performed your heroic deeds; both world-halves follow you as they come to be, and even earth trembles from your might, O wielder of the stone.
2. With your cunning powers, O blameless one, you tore apart the cunning Vṛtra, your mind set on glory. Men choose you indeed in their quests for cattle, you in all their offerings and invocations.
3. Take delight, O much-invoked one, in these patrons who grow strong through you, who, bounteous one, have received your gift. They sing to you for children and offspring in times of danger, for the winning of wisdom, to you the prize-winner, for wealth without shame.
4. He indeed now delights in the joy of well-kept wealth, who recognizes its swift power. Strengthened by you, O bounteous one, offering worship, he swiftly carries off the prize and the riches, with his men.
5. Hymned in your greatness for your host, make room, O bounteous one, grant us riches. You are to us like Mitra, like cunning Varuṇa; like a divider of food, O wondrous one, you apportion your share.
Translator's note: verse 3's "pariṣṭiṣu" (times of distress/danger) and "medhasātā" (the winning of wisdom, or the sacrificial contest for insight) are terse and somewhat ambiguous; rendered conservatively here. Verse 5 compares Indra to Mitra and Varuṇa rather than addressing them directly.
Colophon
Rigveda X.147 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.147
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.
śrat te dadhāmi prathamāya manyave 'han yad vṛtraṁ naryaṁ viver apaḥ |
ubhe yat tvā bhavato rodasī anu rejate śuṣmāt pṛthivī cid adrivaḥ || 1 ||
tvam māyābhir anavadya māyinaṁ śravasyatā manasā vṛtram ardayaḥ |
tvām in naro vṛṇate gaviṣṭiṣu tvāṁ viśvāsu havyāsv iṣṭiṣu || 2 ||
aiṣu cākandhi puruhūta sūriṣu vṛdhāso ye maghavann ānaśur magham |
arcanti toke tanaye pariṣṭiṣu medhasātā vājinam ahraye dhane || 3 ||
sa in nu rāyaḥ subhṛtasya cākanan madaṁ yo asya raṁhyaṁ ciketati |
tvāvṛdho maghavan dāśvadhvaro makṣū sa vājam bharate dhanā nṛbhiḥ || 4 ||
tvaṁ śardhāya mahinā gṛṇāna uru kṛdhi maghavañ chagdhi rāyaḥ |
tvaṁ no mitro varuṇo na māyī pitvo na dasma dayase vibhaktā || 5 ||
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).