Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.33 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 harnessers of the people have yoked me forth; I used to carry Pūṣan close within me. Then all the gods stood guard over me — but a cry went up: "The evil ruler has come!"
2. My ribs scorch me on every side, as they scorch a rival wife. Helplessness presses me down, and nakedness, and weariness. Like a bird, my thought flutters this way and that.
3. Like mice gnawing their tails, [my cares] gnaw at your praiser, O you of a hundred powers. Have mercy on us this once, bounteous Indra, and be to us like a father.
4. I, the seer, have chosen Kuruśravaṇa, sprung of Trasadasyu, as king — most generous of those who sing praise.
5. Whose three tawny horses carry me rightly on his chariot — him I shall praise, at the rite of the thousandfold priestly gift.
6. Whose sweet-tasting songs — the songs for the father of Upamaśravas — I have spoken, pleasant as a fertile field.
7. Come here, Upamaśravas, son, grandson of Mitrātithi — I am the one who praised your father.
8. If I held power over the immortal ones, or over mortals, then indeed my bounteous patron would live.
9. Not even one of a hundred lives lives beyond the ordinance of the gods. So has he turned away from his yoke-companion.
Translator's note: verse 3's "mādhyaḥ" is textually obscure and rendered conservatively as "[my cares]," following the sense of gnawing affliction rather than any specific literal noun. Verse 9's "śatātmā" ("of a hundred lives/souls") and "yujā" ("yoke-fellow, companion") are likewise terse and rendered by their most literal sense.
Colophon
Rigveda X.33 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.33
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 mā yuyujre prayujo janānāṁ vahāmi sma pūṣaṇam antareṇa |
viśve devāso adha mām arakṣan duḥśāsur āgād iti ghoṣa āsīt || 1 ||
sam mā tapanty abhitaḥ sapatnīr iva parśavaḥ |
ni bādhate amatir nagnatā jasur ver na vevīyate matiḥ || 2 ||
mūṣo na śiśnā vy adanti mādhyaḥ stotāraṁ te śatakrato |
sakṛt su no maghavann indra mṛḻayādhā piteva no bhava || 3 ||
kuruśravaṇam āvṛṇi rājānaṁ trāsadasyavam |
maṁhiṣṭhaṁ vāghatām ṛṣiḥ || 4 ||
yasya mā harito rathe tisro vahanti sādhuyā |
stavai sahasradakṣiṇe || 5 ||
yasya prasvādaso gira upamaśravasaḥ pituḥ |
kṣetraṁ na raṇvam ūcuṣe || 6 ||
adhi putropamaśravo napān mitrātither ihi |
pituṣ ṭe asmi vanditā || 7 ||
yad īśīyāmṛtānām uta vā martyānām |
jīved in maghavā mama || 8 ||
na devānām ati vrataṁ śatātmā cana jīvati |
tathā yujā vi vāvṛte || 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).