Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.46 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. Forth he goes, newborn, great, knower of the cloud, seated among men; he has settled in the lap of the waters. He who was established gives your bodies their vigor; he grants goods to the one who honors him, guardian of bodies.
2. Worshipping him in the gathering-place of the waters, they followed his tracks as men follow a lost animal. Seeking him where he moved hidden in secret, the eager, wise Bhṛgus found him with gestures of homage.
3. Trita, son of Vibhuvasu, seeking him long, found him at last on the head of the cow that may not be slain. Born, thriving in joy, in the dwellings of men, while still young he becomes the navel of the shining realm.
4. With homage the eager ones made him the delightful Hotar, the sacrifice that goes forward, the leader of the rites. They made him the purifying envoy of the clans, the bearer of offerings established among men.
5. Forth came the great, victorious one, bearer of inspired thought — no fool, though fools go about him — breaker of strongholds. Leading the germ, they set the hymn of longing upon him, the golden-bearded one, like a steed that wins its prize through song.
6. Trita, standing firm, took his place in the dwellings, wrapped round, sitting within the hidden womb. From there, having gathered himself, the house-lord of the clans goes out to the people with his restraining reins, according to the order of things.
7. His are the ageless oars of the household — the flame-singing, smoke-bannered, purifying fires: gleaming bright, vigorous, swift-moving, seated on the wood like winds, like somas.
8. Agni carries forth his quivering with his tongue; with his mind he marks out the boundaries of the earth. The sons of Āyu made him — shining, purifying, delightful — their Hotar, the best performer of the sacrifice.
9. Agni, whom Heaven and Earth brought forth, whom the Waters, Tvaṣṭar, and the Bhṛgus brought forth with their might — him, worthy of invocation, the first, Mātariśvan and the gods fashioned as the one fit for worship, for Manu.
10. You, whom the gods and the much-desiring sons of Manu established as bearer of oblations, worthy of worship — O Agni, on your course grant vigor to the one who praises you. Seeking the gods, he goes ever forward, and gathers many glories to himself.
Translator's note: verse 5 is syntactically compressed in the Sanskrit (pra bhūr jayantam mahāṁ vipodhām mūrā amūram...); the rendering above follows the sense of each word conservatively rather than resolving the elliptical grammar with confidence. Verse 6's "vidharmaṇā" (here "according to the order of things") is a difficult compound whose precise sense — cosmic law versus ritual apportionment — is not settled in the translation.
Colophon
Rigveda X.46 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.46
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 hotā jāto mahān nabhovin nṛṣadvā sīdad apām upasthe |
dadhir yo dhāyi sa te vayāṁsi yantā vasūni vidhate tanūpāḥ || 1 ||
imaṁ vidhanto apāṁ sadhasthe paśuṁ na naṣṭam padair anu gman |
guhā catantam uśijo namobhir icchanto dhīrā bhṛgavo 'vindan || 2 ||
imaṁ trito bhūry avindad icchan vaibhūvaso mūrdhany aghnyāyāḥ |
sa śevṛdho jāta ā harmyeṣu nābhir yuvā bhavati rocanasya || 3 ||
mandraṁ hotāram uśijo namobhiḥ prāñcaṁ yajñaṁ netāram adhvarāṇām |
viśām akṛṇvann aratim pāvakaṁ havyavāhaṁ dadhato mānuṣeṣu || 4 ||
pra bhūr jayantam mahāṁ vipodhām mūrā amūram purāṁ darmāṇam |
nayanto garbhaṁ vanāṁ dhiyaṁ dhur hiriśmaśruṁ nārvāṇaṁ dhanarcam || 5 ||
ni pastyāsu tritaḥ stabhūyan parivīto yonau sīdad antaḥ |
ataḥ saṁgṛbhyā viśāṁ damūnā vidharmaṇāyantrair īyate nṝn || 6 ||
asyājarāso damām aritrā arcaddhūmāso agnayaḥ pāvakāḥ |
śvitīcayaḥ śvātrāso bhuraṇyavo vanarṣado vāyavo na somāḥ || 7 ||
pra jihvayā bharate vepo agniḥ pra vayunāni cetasā pṛthivyāḥ |
tam āyavaḥ śucayantam pāvakam mandraṁ hotāraṁ dadhire yajiṣṭham || 8 ||
dyāvā yam agnim pṛthivī janiṣṭām āpas tvaṣṭā bhṛgavo yaṁ sahobhiḥ |
īḻenyam prathamam mātariśvā devās tatakṣur manave yajatram || 9 ||
yaṁ tvā devā dadhire havyavāham puruspṛho mānuṣāso yajatram |
sa yāmann agne stuvate vayo dhāḥ pra devayan yaśasaḥ saṁ hi pūrvīḥ || 10 ||
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).