Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.153 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. Swinging him, the busy women attend on Indra newborn, having received their share of his fine strength.
2. You, Indra, were born of strength, of force, of might — you, bull, are indeed a bull.
3. You, Indra, are the slayer of Vṛtra; you spread the space of the air wide open; you propped up heaven with your might.
4. You, Indra, carry in your two arms the hymn that all share alike, whetting your mace with your might.
5. You, Indra, overpower all creatures with your might; you, that one, arose over all the worlds.
Translator's note: verse 4's "sajoṣasam arkam" (literally "the accordant/shared song") is rendered as "the hymn that all share alike," pointing to a hymn of praise sung in common accord; "arka" can also mean "sun" or "ray of light" in some contexts, but the hymn sense fits the verb "bear in the arms" alongside the whetting of the mace. Verse 5's "sa viśvā bhuva ābhavaḥ" is compact — literally "you became/arose unto all the worlds/beings" — rendered here as "you, that one, arose over all the worlds."
Colophon
Rigveda X.153 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.153
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.
īṅkhayantīr apasyuva indraṁ jātam upāsate |
bhejānāsaḥ suvīryam || 1 ||
tvam indra balād adhi sahaso jāta ojasaḥ |
tvaṁ vṛṣan vṛṣed asi || 2 ||
tvam indrāsi vṛtrahā vy a1ntarikṣam atiraḥ |
ud dyām astabhnā ojasā || 3 ||
tvam indra sajoṣasam arkam bibharṣi bāhvoḥ |
vajraṁ śiśāna ojasā || 4 ||
tvam indrābhibhūr asi viśvā jātāny ojasā |
sa viśvā bhuva ābhavaḥ || 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).