Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.50 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. Sing forth, then, to the great one exhilarated by the soma-stalk, to him who belongs to all men, who exists for all — to Indra, whose mighty battle-strength, great fame, and manly power the two world-halves, heaven and earth, honor.
2. He indeed, mighty in manly fellowship, praised, worthy of celebration — Indra — is such for a man like me. In every contest, in every deed of prize-winning, O true lord, whether against Vṛtra or in the waters, O hero, you exult.
3. Who are your men, Indra — who stand ready at your call, who seek to win your favor together with shared gain? Who speed themselves toward your prize, toward your lordly might? Who strive in the waters, in their own fertile fields, in deeds of manly power?
4. You became great, Indra, through the sacred word; you became worthy of worship at every soma-pressing. You became the mover of men in every battle, and the foremost invocation, O you who are seen by all peoples.
5. Help now, O greater one, the winner of the sacrifice; the peoples know your great measure of protection. May you be ageless and ever growing; you draw eagerly to yourself all these soma-pressings.
6. You eagerly draw to yourself all these pressings, which you yourself, O son of strength, have taken up. For your pleasure and for your lasting ordinance stand the cup, the sacrifice, the sacred formula, the prayer — the uplifted word.
7. Those who, O inspired one, shape the sacred formula for you at the pressing, for the giving of goods and of wealth — may they go forth with devoted mind on the path of your favor, in the exhilaration of the pressed soma-drink.
Translator's note: "sumakham" (1) and "sadhanyam" (3) are compact Vedic compounds rendered conservatively — "mighty battle-strength" and "shared gain" respectively, following the most literal sense of their roots. "Dhūrṣu" (2, literally "in the yokings/burdens") is rendered "in every contest" to keep the martial-and-labor sense without overspecifying.
Colophon
Rigveda X.50 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.50
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 vo mahe mandamānāyāndhaso 'rcā viśvānarāya viśvābhuve |
indrasya yasya sumakhaṁ saho mahi śravo nṛmṇaṁ ca rodasī saparyataḥ || 1 ||
so cin nu sakhyā narya inaḥ stutaś carkṛtya indro māvate nare |
viśvāsu dhūrṣu vājakṛtyeṣu satpate vṛtre vāpsv a1bhi śūra mandase || 2 ||
ke te nara indra ye ta iṣe ye te sumnaṁ sadhanya1m iyakṣān |
ke te vājāyāsuryāya hinvire ke apsu svāsūrvarāsu pauṁsye || 3 ||
bhuvas tvam indra brahmaṇā mahān bhuvo viśveṣu savaneṣu yajñiyaḥ |
bhuvo nṝm̐ś cyautno viśvasmin bhare jyeṣṭhaś ca mantro viśvacarṣaṇe || 4 ||
avā nu kaṁ jyāyān yajñavanaso mahīṁ ta omātrāṁ kṛṣṭayo viduḥ |
aso nu kam ajaro vardhāś ca viśved etā savanā tūtumā kṛṣe || 5 ||
etā viśvā savanā tūtumā kṛṣe svayaṁ sūno sahaso yāni dadhiṣe |
varāya te pātraṁ dharmaṇe tanā yajño mantro brahmodyataṁ vacaḥ || 6 ||
ye te vipra brahmakṛtaḥ sute sacā vasūnāṁ ca vasunaś ca dāvane |
pra te sumnasya manasā pathā bhuvan made sutasya somyasyāndhasaḥ || 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).