Hymn to Agni as the Sacrificial Steed

Rigveda X.188 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. Now indeed, drive forth Jātavedas, the prize-winning steed — to this, our sacred grass, that he may take his seat.

2. For this Jātavedas, whose champions are the inspired singers, the bountiful giver — I raise up a mighty hymn of praise.

3. The flames of Jātavedas that carry the offering to the gods — with these, may he speed our sacrifice onward.

Translator's note: "Jātavedas" ("he who knows all beings" or "possessed from birth of wealth/knowledge") is a standing epithet of Agni and is left untranslated here, as is conventional. The hymn addresses Agni under the image of a racehorse (aśva, vājin) driven to the ritual ground.

Colophon

Rigveda X.188 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.188

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 nūnaṁ jātavedasam aśvaṁ hinota vājinam |
idaṁ no barhir āsade || 1 ||

asya pra jātavedaso vipravīrasya mīḻhuṣaḥ |
mahīm iyarmi suṣṭutim || 2 ||

yā ruco jātavedaso devatrā havyavāhanīḥ |
tābhir no yajñam invatu || 3 ||

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).