Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.80 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 gives a swift steed that carries home the prize; Agni gives a hero renowned, steadfast in action. Agni moves through both world-halves, anointing them; Agni gives a woman a hero in her womb — Agni is abundance itself.
2. Let Agni's kindling for its work be auspicious. Agni has entered the two great world-halves. Agni drives the chosen one forward in battles; Agni breaks apart the many obstacles.
3. Agni helped old Jaraḥkarṇa; Agni burned Jarūtha out of the waters. Agni shielded Atri within the scorching heat; Agni joined Nṛmedha with his offspring.
4. Agni gave wealth adorned with men of strength; Agni gives the seer who wins thousands. Agni has stretched the offering up to heaven; Agni's domains are spread out in many places.
5. The seers call out to Agni with their hymns; men hard-pressed on the road call out to Agni; birds flying through the mid-air call out to Agni; Agni goes around thousands of cattle.
6. The human clans who are born of Manu and of Nahus invoke Agni. Agni has found the Gandharva path of truth; Agni's pastures are set down in ghee.
7. For Agni the Ṛbhus fashioned the sacred formula; to great Agni we have spoken a well-wrought hymn. O Agni, youngest of the gods, help the singer forward; O Agni, win great wealth for us through the rite.
Translator's note: verse 3 names three or four figures (Jaraḥkarṇa, Jarūtha, Atri, Nṛmedha) rescued or aided by Agni in old Vedic lore; their stories survive only in fragments elsewhere in the Rigveda, so the specific circumstances of each rescue are not recoverable from this verse alone. "Puraṁdhim" in verse 1, rendered here as "abundance itself," can also denote a goddess of plenty associated with childbearing.
Colophon
Rigveda X.80 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.80
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.
agniḥ saptiṁ vājambharaṁ dadāty agnir vīraṁ śrutyaṁ karmaniḥṣṭhām |
agnī rodasī vi carat samañjann agnir nārīṁ vīrakukṣim puraṁdhim || 1 ||
agner apnasaḥ samid astu bhadrāgnir mahī rodasī ā viveśa |
agnir ekaṁ codayat samatsv agnir vṛtrāṇi dayate purūṇi || 2 ||
agnir ha tyaṁ jarataḥ karṇam āvāgnir adbhyo nir adahaj jarūtham |
agnir atriṁ gharma uruṣyad antar agnir nṛmedham prajayāsṛjat sam || 3 ||
agnir dād draviṇaṁ vīrapeśā agnir ṛṣiṁ yaḥ sahasrā sanoti |
agnir divi havyam ā tatānāgner dhāmāni vibhṛtā purutrā || 4 ||
agnim ukthair ṛṣayo vi hvayante 'gniṁ naro yāmani bādhitāsaḥ |
agniṁ vayo antarikṣe patanto 'gniḥ sahasrā pari yāti gonām || 5 ||
agniṁ viśa īḻate mānuṣīr yā agnim manuṣo nahuṣo vi jātāḥ |
agnir gāndharvīm pathyām ṛtasyāgner gavyūtir ghṛta ā niṣattā || 6 ||
agnaye brahma ṛbhavas tatakṣur agnim mahām avocāmā suvṛktim |
agne prāva jaritāraṁ yaviṣṭhāgne mahi draviṇam ā yajasva || 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).