Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.156 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. Let our thoughts drive Agni forward, like a swift courser in the races; with him may we win prize after prize.
2. With the force by which, with your help, O Agni, we may drive off the cattle — send that force to us, that we may gain riches.
3. O Agni, bring us solid wealth, broad, rich in cattle and horses. Grease the axle-hole; set the miser rolling.
4. Agni, you make the ageless star, the sun, rise in heaven, setting light there for the people.
5. Agni, you are the banner of the clans, most dear, best, seated close among us. Wake, and grant vigor to the one who praises you.
Translator's note: verse 3's "grease the axle-hole; set the miser rolling" (aṅdhi khaṁ vartayā paṇim) is a wheel-metaphor for wresting goods loose from a withholding trader (paṇi) — rendered here close to the image rather than smoothed into abstraction. Verse 2's "force" (senā) can mean an army or a raiding party; both readings track a drive to seize cattle.
Colophon
Rigveda X.156 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.156
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.
agniṁ hinvantu no dhiyaḥ saptim āśum ivājiṣu |
tena jeṣma dhanaṁ-dhanam || 1 ||
yayā gā ākarāmahe senayāgne tavotyā |
tāṁ no hinva maghattaye || 2 ||
āgne sthūraṁ rayim bhara pṛthuṁ gomantam aśvinam |
aṅdhi khaṁ vartayā paṇim || 3 ||
agne nakṣatram ajaram ā sūryaṁ rohayo divi |
dadhaj jyotir janebhyaḥ || 4 ||
agne ketur viśām asi preṣṭhaḥ śreṣṭha upasthasat |
bodhā stotre vayo dadhat || 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).