Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.6 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. This is he in whose shelter, through Agni's help and assistance, the singer thrives — who, wrapped in the foremost rays of the swift ones, goes about shining far and wide.
2. Who shines far-shining with his rays — Agni, truthful and tireless among the gods; who has brought friendship to his friends, unswerving, like a racing horse yoked to the pole.
3. Who rules over the whole feast offered to the gods, ruling all his life at the breaking of dawn; in whom, with devoted mind, the oblations are set fast in Agni — he whose chariot is unharmed props them firm with his mighty powers.
4. Grown strong through his vigors, delighting in the chants, he flies swiftly toward the gods. He, the joyful priest, most worthy of sacrifice with his tongue — Agni, mingling with them, pours forth offerings to the gods.
5. Draw him near with songs and with homage — that trembling Agni, bright like Indra; whom the inspired poets sing with their thoughts, Jātavedas, the tongue of the mighty ones.
6. In whom all good things have come together, like yoked horses running together in their courses — bring toward us, O Agni, those aids most akin to Indra and Vāta.
7. Then indeed, O Agni, by your greatness, having taken your seat, as soon as born you became one worthy to be called upon. The gods followed after your will; then the foremost helpers grew strong through you.
Translator's note: verse 3's "ariṣṭarathaḥ skabhnāti śūṣaiḥ" ("he whose chariot is unharmed props them firm with his mighty powers") is grammatically compressed in the Sanskrit; the rendering keeps the image (an unharmed chariot, a bracing/propping act) without resolving every syntactic link. Verse 6's "indravātatamā" is rendered conservatively as "aids most akin to Indra and Vāta," following the compound's plain sense.
Colophon
Rigveda X.6 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.6
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.
ayaṁ sa yasya śarmann avobhir agner edhate jaritābhiṣṭau |
jyeṣṭhebhir yo bhānubhir ṛṣūṇām paryeti parivīto vibhāvā || 1 ||
yo bhānubhir vibhāvā vibhāty agnir devebhir ṛtāvājasraḥ |
ā yo vivāya sakhyā sakhibhyo 'parihvṛto atyo na saptiḥ || 2 ||
īśe yo viśvasyā devavīter īśe viśvāyur uṣaso vyuṣṭau |
ā yasmin manā havīṁṣy agnāv ariṣṭarathaḥ skabhnāti śūṣaiḥ || 3 ||
śūṣebhir vṛdho juṣāṇo arkair devām̐ acchā raghupatvā jigāti |
mandro hotā sa juhvā3 yajiṣṭhaḥ sammiślo agnir ā jigharti devān || 4 ||
tam usrām indraṁ na rejamānam agniṁ gīrbhir namobhir ā kṛṇudhvam |
ā yaṁ viprāso matibhir gṛṇanti jātavedasaṁ juhvaṁ sahānām || 5 ||
saṁ yasmin viśvā vasūni jagmur vāje nāśvāḥ saptīvanta evaiḥ |
asme ūtīr indravātatamā arvācīnā agna ā kṛṇuṣva || 6 ||
adhā hy agne mahnā niṣadyā sadyo jajñāno havyo babhūtha |
taṁ te devāso anu ketam āyann adhāvardhanta prathamāsa ūmāḥ || 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).