Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.28 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 hymn is unusual: it opens with a domestic scene about an absent father-in-law, then turns to Indra, riddling images of reversed nature (rivers running backward, foxes overpowering lions), and Indra's own boasts of strength.
1. Every other stranger has come here; but my father-in-law himself has not come. Let him eat the roasted grain and drink the soma; well fed, let him go home again.
2. The bellowing bull with sharp horns stands at his full height, across the breadth of the earth. I protect him in every gathering — he who fills both my flanks with pressed soma.
3. With the stone they swiftly press the intoxicating somas for you, Indra; you drink of them. They roast bulls for you, and you eat of them, coming with strength, bounteous one, when you are called.
4. Mark this well for me, singer: the rivers carry their current backward, against the flow. The fox ate the lion who faced him; the jackal drove the boar out of the thicket.
5. How shall I grasp this riddle of yours? I am simple — how can I know the thought of you, the clever and mighty one? You who know, declare to us in due time toward which side your chariot-pole comes to rest, bounteous one.
6. Thus indeed they make me strong; my lofty chariot-pole reaches higher than the heavens. Many thousands I subdue at once, for he who begot me begot me without a rival.
7. Thus indeed the gods knew me — mighty, fierce, the bull in every deed, Indra. Exhilarated by soma, I slew Vṛtra with my mace; by my might I opened the cattle-pen for the worshipper.
8. The gods came, carrying axes; cutting down the trees, they came with their people. They laid the good wood down in the fire's hollows, where they burn up the heap of fuel.
9. The hare swallowed the razor that faced it. I split the rock apart with a clod, from a distance. Even the great one I shall subdue for the sake of the weak; the calf, waxing strong, shall overpower the bull.
10. So the eagle caught fast its claw, like a lion trapped by a snare round its foot. Even the buffalo, held back and thirsting, the lizard drew this crooked path for him.
11. For them shall the lizard draw this crooked path — those who begrudge the priest his food. They eat the oxen that were set loose, themselves thereby breaking their own bodies' strength.
12. These have become good workers through their labors — those who quicken themselves with soma and hymns. Speaking as befits a hero, grant us great strength; hero, you have set your name and fame in heaven.
Translator's note: Verses 1–2 and the animal images of verses 4, 9–11 are riddling and elliptical in the Sanskrit; ancient and modern commentators disagree on how they connect to the surrounding praise of Indra. The rendering above stays close to the literal sense of each line rather than resolving the riddle. "Chariot-pole" (dhūḥ) in verses 5–6 may also carry the sense of a yoke or the favor/direction Indra shows; both senses are present in the Sanskrit.
Colophon
Rigveda X.28 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.28
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.
viśvo hy a1nyo arir ājagāma mamed aha śvaśuro nā jagāma |
jakṣīyād dhānā uta somam papīyāt svāśitaḥ punar astaṁ jagāyāt || 1 ||
sa roruvad vṛṣabhas tigmaśṛṅgo varṣman tasthau varimann ā pṛthivyāḥ |
viśveṣv enaṁ vṛjaneṣu pāmi yo me kukṣī sutasomaḥ pṛṇāti || 2 ||
adriṇā te mandina indra tūyān sunvanti somān pibasi tvam eṣām |
pacanti te vṛṣabhām̐ atsi teṣām pṛkṣeṇa yan maghavan hūyamānaḥ || 3 ||
idaṁ su me jaritar ā cikiddhi pratīpaṁ śāpaṁ nadyo vahanti |
lopāśaḥ siṁham pratyañcam atsāḥ kroṣṭā varāhaṁ nir atakta kakṣāt || 4 ||
kathā ta etad aham ā ciketaṁ gṛtsasya pākas tavaso manīṣām |
tvaṁ no vidvām̐ ṛtuthā vi voco yam ardhaṁ te maghavan kṣemyā dhūḥ || 5 ||
evā hi māṁ tavasaṁ vardhayanti divaś cin me bṛhata uttarā dhūḥ |
purū sahasrā ni śiśāmi sākam aśatruṁ hi mā janitā jajāna || 6 ||
evā hi māṁ tavasaṁ jajñur ugraṁ karman-karman vṛṣaṇam indra devāḥ |
vadhīṁ vṛtraṁ vajreṇa mandasāno 'pa vrajam mahinā dāśuṣe vam || 7 ||
devāsa āyan paraśūm̐r abibhran vanā vṛścanto abhi viḍbhir āyan |
ni sudrva1ṁ dadhato vakṣaṇāsu yatrā kṛpīṭam anu tad dahanti || 8 ||
śaśaḥ kṣuram pratyañcaṁ jagārādriṁ logena vy abhedam ārāt |
bṛhantaṁ cid ṛhate randhayāni vayad vatso vṛṣabhaṁ śūśuvānaḥ || 9 ||
suparṇa itthā nakham ā siṣāyāvaruddhaḥ paripadaṁ na siṁhaḥ |
niruddhaś cin mahiṣas tarṣyāvān godhā tasmā ayathaṁ karṣad etat || 10 ||
tebhyo godhā ayathaṁ karṣad etad ye brahmaṇaḥ pratipīyanty annaiḥ |
sima ukṣṇo 'vasṛṣṭām̐ adanti svayam balāni tanvaḥ śṛṇānāḥ || 11 ||
ete śamībhiḥ suśamī abhūvan ye hinvire tanva1ḥ soma ukthaiḥ |
nṛvad vadann upa no māhi vājān divi śravo dadhiṣe nāma vīraḥ || 12 ||
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).