Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.4 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. I worship you and send forth this thought toward you, so that you may be praised by us in our invocations. You are like a spring of water in a desert, Agni, for Pūru who longs to sacrifice, O ancient king.
2. You, whom the peoples gather around, as cattle gather to a warm fold, O youngest one — you are the messenger of the gods to mortals; great, you move between them in radiant light.
3. Like a noble child being raised, your mother carries you, taking pleasure in it. You go eagerly down the slope of the wild ground, seeking to conquer, like an animal let loose.
4. We are foolish, not wise, O knowing one; you, Agni, truly know your own greatness. The wrapping of wood lies still, yet you move within it, eating with your tongue; lord of the clan, you lick again and again at the young one.
5. Somewhere he is born anew among the old fuels; grey, bearing smoke as his banner, he stands in the wood. Unbathed, he rushes toward the waters like a bull, led onward by mortals of one mind.
6. Like thieves risking their lives who roam the forest, the two arms have bound him with ten cords. This is your newest hymn, Agni — yoke it like a chariot, with your bright, blazing limbs.
7. This sacred formula is for you, Jātavedas, and this homage, and this hymn — may it always be a source of strength for you. Protect our children and our offspring, Agni, and protect our bodies, without fail.
Translator's note: in verse 4, "the young one" (yuvatim) that Agni licks with his tongue is the feminine-gendered kindling-stick or fire-wood of the sacrifice, a standard Vedic image; it is rendered literally rather than expanded. In verse 6, "the two arms" (dual, unstated subject) that bind Agni with "ten cords" are read as the two hands of the priest, whose ten fingers kindle and tend the fire; the Sanskrit leaves the subject implicit.
Colophon
Rigveda X.4 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.4
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 te yakṣi pra ta iyarmi manma bhuvo yathā vandyo no haveṣu |
dhanvann iva prapā asi tvam agna iyakṣave pūrave pratna rājan || 1 ||
yaṁ tvā janāso abhi saṁcaranti gāva uṣṇam iva vrajaṁ yaviṣṭha |
dūto devānām asi martyānām antar mahām̐ś carasi rocanena || 2 ||
śiśuṁ na tvā jenyaṁ vardhayantī mātā bibharti sacanasyamānā |
dhanor adhi pravatā yāsi haryañ jigīṣase paśur ivāvasṛṣṭaḥ || 3 ||
mūrā amūra na vayaṁ cikitvo mahitvam agne tvam aṅga vitse |
śaye vavriś carati jihvayādan rerihyate yuvatiṁ viśpatiḥ san || 4 ||
kūcij jāyate sanayāsu navyo vane tasthau palito dhūmaketuḥ |
asnātāpo vṛṣabho na pra veti sacetaso yam praṇayanta martāḥ || 5 ||
tanūtyajeva taskarā vanargū raśanābhir daśabhir abhy adhītām |
iyaṁ te agne navyasī manīṣā yukṣvā rathaṁ na śucayadbhir aṅgaiḥ || 6 ||
brahma ca te jātavedo namaś ceyaṁ ca gīḥ sadam id vardhanī bhūt |
rakṣā ṇo agne tanayāni tokā rakṣota nas tanvo3 aprayucchan || 7 ||
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).