Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.44 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. Let Indra, his own master, come for the exhilarating drink — he who, by his own law, pressing ever forward, is mighty, surpassing all powers in strength, with boundless, great bull-force.
2. Your chariot stands firm, O Indra; your bay steeds are well-reined and willing. The mace clings to your hand, O lord of men. Come quickly, O king, hither by the good path; when you have drunk, let us make your bull-force rise anew.
3. Let the Indra-bearers bring him hither — the lord of men, mace-armed, fierce; let the fierce and mighty ones bring him, the powerful bull of true might. Let his fellow feasters bring him among us.
4. So conduct yourself mightily toward the lord, the vat-companion, the like-minded one, the pillar and sustainer of strength. Gather your might together; let me too be joined in you, that you may be the strong lord for the thriving of the kenipas.
5. Let goods come to us — for I have spoken a good prayer; come to the offering, O soma-lord. You are master here; sit down upon the sacred grass. Your draughts are unassailable, by sacred law.
6. The first invocations of the gods went forth each on its own path, and each won a fame hard to surpass. But those who could not climb aboard the sacrificial ship sank down helplessly, like worms.
7. So let the others, the foolish-hearted, whose horses are ill-yoked, fall back and turn behind. But let those who stand near and face forward be ready to give, where the many rites and foods of the feast are set in order.
8. He held firm the trembling mountains and plains; heaven cried out, he shook the mid-air regions. He propped apart the two world-halves, once joined as one. Having drunk the bull's draught, in his exhilaration he recites the hymns.
9. I bring you this well-made hook, with which you may break the hoof-breakers, O bounteous one. May you find a good home in this pressing; in the soma-offering, O bounteous one, be a partaker.
10. With cattle may we overcome ill-omened folly, and with barley all hunger, O much-invoked one. May we, together with our chiefs, win the foremost riches; may we conquer with our own host.
11. May Bṛhaspati guard us on every side — from behind, from above, from below, from the malicious one — and may Indra guard us from in front and from the middle. May he, our friend, make wide room for us, his friends.
Translator's note: verse 4's "kenipānām" and verse 6's "kepayaḥ" are rare, textually obscure words (possibly referring to a rival group or, in the latter case, to worms/vermin as an image of helplessness); they are rendered conservatively and literally here rather than resolved with confidence.
Colophon
Rigveda X.44 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.44
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.
ā yātv indraḥ svapatir madāya yo dharmaṇā tūtujānas tuviṣmān |
pratvakṣāṇo ati viśvā sahāṁsy apāreṇa mahatā vṛṣṇyena || 1 ||
suṣṭhāmā rathaḥ suyamā harī te mimyakṣa vajro nṛpate gabhastau |
śībhaṁ rājan supathā yāhy arvāṅ vardhāma te papuṣo vṛṣṇyāni || 2 ||
endravāho nṛpatiṁ vajrabāhum ugram ugrāsas taviṣāsa enam |
pratvakṣasaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ satyaśuṣmam em asmatrā sadhamādo vahantu || 3 ||
evā patiṁ droṇasācaṁ sacetasam ūrjaḥ skambhaṁ dharuṇa ā vṛṣāyase |
ojaḥ kṛṣva saṁ gṛbhāya tve apy aso yathā kenipānām ino vṛdhe || 4 ||
gamann asme vasūny ā hi śaṁsiṣaṁ svāśiṣam bharam ā yāhi sominaḥ |
tvam īśiṣe sāsminn ā satsi barhiṣy anādhṛṣyā tava pātrāṇi dharmaṇā || 5 ||
pṛthak prāyan prathamā devahūtayo 'kṛṇvata śravasyāni duṣṭarā |
na ye śekur yajñiyāṁ nāvam āruham īrmaiva te ny aviśanta kepayaḥ || 6 ||
evaivāpāg apare santu dūḍhyo 'śvā yeṣāṁ duryuja āyuyujre |
itthā ye prāg upare santi dāvane purūṇi yatra vayunāni bhojanā || 7 ||
girīm̐r ajrān rejamānām̐ adhārayad dyauḥ krandad antarikṣāṇi kopayat |
samīcīne dhiṣaṇe vi ṣkabhāyati vṛṣṇaḥ pītvā mada ukthāni śaṁsati || 8 ||
imam bibharmi sukṛtaṁ te aṅkuśaṁ yenārujāsi maghavañ chaphārujaḥ |
asmin su te savane astv okyaṁ suta iṣṭau maghavan bodhy ābhagaḥ || 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).