Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.43 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. My thoughts, finding the sun, all turned the same way, all eager, have cried out toward Indra. They embrace him as wives embrace a husband, they hold fast to the bounteous one, handsome as a young man, for help.
2. My mind does not turn away from you; it follows you alone, much-invoked one — on you alone my longing has settled. Sit down like a king, wondrous one, upon the sacred grass; let there be, in this good soma, a place for you to drink.
3. Indra turns back want and hunger on every side; he alone, the bounteous one, rules over wealth and goods. To his strength, in their downward rush, these seven rivers add their vigor — to the strength of the raging bull.
4. Like birds settling on a tree with fine leaves, the soma-drops settle on Indra, gladdening, resting in the bowl. Their gleam flashed forth with power, again and again; he found the sun-light, the noble light, for Manu.
5. Like a gambler who picks out the winning throw in the game, so did the bounteous one seize the sun, the sweeping prize. No other has matched that strength of yours — not one of old, bounteous one, and not one now.
6. The bounteous one lay watch over clan after clan; the bull looked over the milk-streams of the peoples. In whose pressings, they say, the mighty one delights — he overpowers those who make war on him with his sharp soma.
7. As waters flow together toward a river, the somas flowed together toward Indra, as channels toward a pool. The inspired ones raise up his greatness at his seat, as rain raises the barley with its gift from the sky.
8. Like an angered bull he rushed through the regions of dust, he who made these waters the wives of the noble man. He, the bounteous one, found the light for the one who presses soma for him, for the quick-giving Manu who brings the offering.
9. Let the axe rise up together with its light; let there be, as of old, the well-milking cow of truth. Let the red one shine forth bright with his radiance; let the lord of the household blaze bright as the sun.
10. With cattle may we cross over ill-natured want, with barley banish all hunger, much-invoked one. May we, foremost among the kings, win riches with our own host.
11. Let Bṛhaspati guard us all around, from behind, from above, from below, from the one who wishes us harm. Let Indra guard us from in front and from the middle — let him, our friend, make wide room for his friends.
Translator's note: "śvaghnī" in verse 5 (literally "dog-slayer") is rendered as "gambler," its recognized idiomatic sense as a dice-player in Vedic Sanskrit. Verse 9's imagery of axe, cow, and "the red one" shifts briefly toward fire/ritual imagery within the hymn to Indra; it is translated literally rather than smoothed into consistency with the surrounding verses.
Colophon
Rigveda X.43 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.43
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.
acchā ma indram matayaḥ svarvidaḥ sadhrīcīr viśvā uśatīr anūṣata |
pari ṣvajante janayo yathā patim maryaṁ na śundhyum maghavānam ūtaye || 1 ||
na ghā tvadrig apa veti me manas tve it kāmam puruhūta śiśraya |
rājeva dasma ni ṣado 'dhi barhiṣy asmin su some 'vapānam astu te || 2 ||
viṣūvṛd indro amater uta kṣudhaḥ sa id rāyo maghavā vasva īśate |
tasyed ime pravaṇe sapta sindhavo vayo vardhanti vṛṣabhasya śuṣmiṇaḥ || 3 ||
vayo na vṛkṣaṁ supalāśam āsadan somāsa indram mandinaś camūṣadaḥ |
praiṣām anīkaṁ śavasā davidyutad vidat sva1r manave jyotir āryam || 4 ||
kṛtaṁ na śvaghnī vi cinoti devane saṁvargaṁ yan maghavā sūryaṁ jayat |
na tat te anyo anu vīryaṁ śakan na purāṇo maghavan nota nūtanaḥ || 5 ||
viśaṁ-viśam maghavā pary aśāyata janānāṁ dhenā avacākaśad vṛṣā |
yasyāha śakraḥ savaneṣu raṇyati sa tīvraiḥ somaiḥ sahate pṛtanyataḥ || 6 ||
āpo na sindhum abhi yat samakṣaran somāsa indraṁ kulyā iva hradam |
vardhanti viprā maho asya sādane yavaṁ na vṛṣṭir divyena dānunā || 7 ||
vṛṣā na kruddhaḥ patayad rajaḥsv ā yo aryapatnīr akṛṇod imā apaḥ |
sa sunvate maghavā jīradānave 'vindaj jyotir manave haviṣmate || 8 ||
uj jāyatām paraśur jyotiṣā saha bhūyā ṛtasya sudughā purāṇavat |
vi rocatām aruṣo bhānunā śuciḥ sva1r ṇa śukraṁ śuśucīta satpatiḥ || 9 ||
gobhiṣ ṭaremāmatiṁ durevāṁ yavena kṣudham puruhūta viśvām |
vayaṁ rājabhiḥ prathamā dhanāny asmākena vṛjanenā jayema || 10 ||
bṛhaspatir naḥ pari pātu paścād utottarasmād adharād aghāyoḥ |
indraḥ purastād uta madhyato naḥ sakhā sakhibhyo varivaḥ kṛṇotu || 11 ||
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).