Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.32 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. The two swift ones, companions of the devoted man, gladly settle down upon their chosen mates, as they prefer. Both of these shall delight our Indra, when he wakes to the stalk of soma.
2. You travel, Indra, much-praised one, through the shining realms of heaven and through the earthly regions, in your might. May those who carry you again and again to the rites overpower well the stingy babblers.
3. This alone shall please me, more marvelous than any marvel: that a son learns by heart the birth of his own father and mother. The bride leads her husband on, with the wedding-song sounding sweetly; the goodly bridal procession, well arrayed, belongs to the man alone.
4. On that same dear dwelling-place I meditate, where the milking-cows move on as if to a wedding. When the mother of the herd, the wise and foremost counselor, goes forth toward the sound, the sevenfold folk go with her.
5. The god-seeking one has left his track behind, toward you. Alone, the all-conquering one travels with the Rudras — among those immortal givers, age is no taking away. Pour out the sweet mead all around for your helpers.
6. Of him who lay hidden, concealed in the waters, the guardian of the gods' ordinance spoke to me: "Indra, who knows, has indeed watched over you." By that teaching, O Agni, I have come, instructed.
7. One who does not know the land has questioned one who knows the land; instructed by the knower, he goes forward. This indeed is the good fruit of instruction — that he finds the straight and direct road.
8. Only today did he draw breath; all these were amazed — wrapped close, he had been drinking at his mother's breast in silence. Now old age has overtaken the young one; his wrath is past, and the good one has grown gentle-minded.
9. Let us do these good deeds, O vessel, O Kuruśravaṇa, renowned in name, giver of bounties. Let this gift-giving be truly yours, O generous ones — and this soma too, which I carry not in hand but in heart.
Translator's note: verses 1 and 4 rest on words whose precise reference is uncertain in isolation — "the two swift ones" (gmantā, v.1) and "the sevenfold folk" (saptadhātuḥ janaḥ, v.4) are translated conservatively from their literal sense; ancient commentators differ on what they name. Verse 6's "he who lay hidden in the waters" is likewise left as the text states it, without supplying an identity the Sanskrit does not.
Colophon
Rigveda X.32 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda X.32
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 su gmantā dhiyasānasya sakṣaṇi varebhir varām̐ abhi ṣu prasīdataḥ |
asmākam indra ubhayaṁ jujoṣati yat somyasyāndhaso bubodhati || 1 ||
vīndra yāsi divyāni rocanā vi pārthivāni rajasā puruṣṭuta |
ye tvā vahanti muhur adhvarām̐ upa te su vanvantu vagvanām̐ arādhasaḥ || 2 ||
tad in me chantsad vapuṣo vapuṣṭaram putro yaj jānam pitror adhīyati |
jāyā patiṁ vahati vagnunā sumat puṁsa id bhadro vahatuḥ pariṣkṛtaḥ || 3 ||
tad it sadhastham abhi cāru dīdhaya gāvo yac chāsan vahatuṁ na dhenavaḥ |
mātā yan mantur yūthasya pūrvyābhi vāṇasya saptadhātur ij janaḥ || 4 ||
pra vo 'cchā ririce devayuṣ padam eko rudrebhir yāti turvaṇiḥ |
jarā vā yeṣv amṛteṣu dāvane pari va ūmebhyaḥ siñcatā madhu || 5 ||
nidhīyamānam apagūḻham apsu pra me devānāṁ vratapā uvāca |
indro vidvām̐ anu hi tvā cacakṣa tenāham agne anuśiṣṭa āgām || 6 ||
akṣetravit kṣetravidaṁ hy aprāṭ sa praiti kṣetravidānuśiṣṭaḥ |
etad vai bhadram anuśāsanasyota srutiṁ vindaty añjasīnām || 7 ||
adyed u prāṇīd amamann imāhāpīvṛto adhayan mātur ūdhaḥ |
em enam āpa jarimā yuvānam aheḻan vasuḥ sumanā babhūva || 8 ||
etāni bhadrā kalaśa kriyāma kuruśravaṇa dadato maghāni |
dāna id vo maghavānaḥ so astv ayaṁ ca somo hṛdi yam bibharmi || 9 ||
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).