Hymn to Agni, with the Myth of Trita Āptya
Rigveda X.8 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. Agni goes forth with his lofty banner-flame toward the two world-halves; the bull bellows. He has reached even the highest bounds of heaven; in the lap of the waters, the buffalo has grown strong.
2. The embryo rejoiced, the humped bull, the unfailing calf cried out in his might. Preparing the offerings for the gathering of the gods, he goes first into his own dwelling-places.
3. He who has laid hold of the head of his two parents — they have set him at the rite as the sun's radiant flood. In his course, the ruddy ones, mounted on the steed, take pleasure in their bodies in the womb of truth.
4. At every dawn, O good Agni, you go to the fore; you have become the shining one of the twin — Day and Night. For the sake of order you have set your seven steps, begetting kinship for your own self.
5. You have become the eye and guardian of great order; you have become Varuṇa when you act for order. You have become the Child of the Waters, O Jātavedas; you have become the messenger of him whose offering you relish.
6. You have become the leader of the sacrifice and of the middle realm, where you are attended by your gracious teams. In heaven you have set your head that wins the sun; your tongue, O Agni, you have made the bearer of the offering.
7. Trita, sharing Agni's nature, by his own resolve, within the hidden place, seeking the vision of his distant forefather along his paths — held close in the lap of his two parents, declaring it his kinship-right, he seeks out the weapons.
8. He, knowing the weapons of his fathers, the Āptya, driven on by Indra, fought. Having slain the three-headed, seven-reined one, Trita set free the cows — even those of Tvaṣṭar's offspring.
9. Indra struck down the abundant strength of him who was rising up; the true lord struck down the one who thought himself great. Coveting the cows of Viśvarūpa, son of Tvaṣṭar, he tore away his three heads.
Translator's note: Verse 3's "aruṣīr aśvabudhnāḥ" (literally "ruddy ones having a horse as base/foundation") is a compact, ambiguous image, likely the flame-tongues or dawn-lights figured as mares standing on Agni-as-horse; rendered conservatively as "the ruddy ones, mounted on the steed." Verse 7's opening "asya" ("of/belonging to this one") is taken as marking Trita's kinship with Agni, following the identification the hymn builds across verses 4–6.
Colophon
Rigveda X.8 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.8
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 ketunā bṛhatā yāty agnir ā rodasī vṛṣabho roravīti |
divaś cid antām̐ upamām̐ ud ānaḻ apām upasthe mahiṣo vavardha || 1 ||
mumoda garbho vṛṣabhaḥ kakudmān asremā vatsaḥ śimīvām̐ arāvīt |
sa devatāty udyatāni kṛṇvan sveṣu kṣayeṣu prathamo jigāti || 2 ||
ā yo mūrdhānam pitror arabdha ny adhvare dadhire sūro arṇaḥ |
asya patmann aruṣīr aśvabudhnā ṛtasya yonau tanvo juṣanta || 3 ||
uṣa-uṣo hi vaso agram eṣi tvaṁ yamayor abhavo vibhāvā |
ṛtāya sapta dadhiṣe padāni janayan mitraṁ tanve3 svāyai || 4 ||
bhuvaś cakṣur maha ṛtasya gopā bhuvo varuṇo yad ṛtāya veṣi |
bhuvo apāṁ napāj jātavedo bhuvo dūto yasya havyaṁ jujoṣaḥ || 5 ||
bhuvo yajñasya rajasaś ca netā yatrā niyudbhiḥ sacase śivābhiḥ |
divi mūrdhānaṁ dadhiṣe svarṣāṁ jihvām agne cakṛṣe havyavāham || 6 ||
asya tritaḥ kratunā vavre antar icchan dhītim pitur evaiḥ parasya |
sacasyamānaḥ pitror upasthe jāmi bruvāṇa āyudhāni veti || 7 ||
sa pitryāṇy āyudhāni vidvān indreṣita āptyo abhy ayudhyat |
triśīrṣāṇaṁ saptaraśmiṁ jaghanvān tvāṣṭrasya cin niḥ sasṛje trito gāḥ || 8 ||
bhūrīd indra udinakṣantam ojo 'vābhinat satpatir manyamānam |
tvāṣṭrasya cid viśvarūpasya gonām ācakrāṇas trīṇi śīrṣā parā vark || 9 ||
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).