Hymn to Indra
Rigveda II.11 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 2 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. Hear our call, Indra — do not harm us; may we be fit for you to give us goods. For these nourishing streams strengthen you, flowing like rivers, seeking wealth.
2. You released, Indra, the many great waters that you made swell, which had been hemmed in by the serpent, O hero. Strengthened by hymns of praise, you struck down the one who thought himself immortal, thought himself unconquerable.
3. Indeed, hero, you delight in those hymns — in the praise-songs, and the mighty ones, O Indra. These are for you, in which, growing exhilarated, the bright draughts flow forth, as they do for Vāyu.
4. Increasing your bright fury, holding the bright thunderbolt in your two arms — bright yourself, Indra, and grown strong — may the dāsa peoples be overcome by you, with the sun on your side, for our sake.
5. The one hidden away, kept secret, concealed in the waters, covered over — the magic-working one who dwelt there, who had held fast the waters and the sky — that serpent, hero, you slew by your might.
6. Let us now praise your great deeds of old, Indra, and let us praise the deeds newly done. Let us praise the eager thunderbolt in your two arms; let us praise your two bay steeds, the banners of the sun.
7. Your two bay steeds, Indra, racing eagerly, dripping with ghee, sounded out their cry. The earth spread wide as one; even the mountain, about to give way, settled still.
8. The mountain sank down, unwavering; bellowing, it cried out together with the mother waters. Far off, on the distant shore, raising the sound, they spread out the blast Indra had set moving.
9. Indra struck outward at the magic-working Vṛtra, who lay upon the great flood. The two world-halves trembled in fear at the roar from that bull's thunderbolt.
10. This bull's thunderbolt roared aloud, when the human felled the one who was not human. Having drunk of the pressed soma, he beat down the magic tricks of the magic-working Dānava.
11. Drink, drink again, hero Indra, the soma; let the exhilarating pressed draughts delight you. Filling your two flanks, let them make you grow; so the soma pressed by Paura has helped Indra.
12. We, the inspired singers, have become bound to you, Indra; may we win insight, serving you in accord with truth. Seeking your protection, may we win praise; may we at once be fit for you to give us riches.
13. May we be yours, Indra — we who by your help, seeking your protection, increase our strength. Give us, god, the mightiest wealth we have longed for, rich in able sons.
14. Give us a dwelling, give us a friend, give us, Indra, the troop of the Maruts. Of one mind, growing exhilarated, the swift ones drink and guard the foremost place.
15. Let them now indeed take their share, in which, growing exhilarated to your fill, you drink the soma; stand firm, Indra. Help us well in the battles, victorious one; you exalted the sky with your lofty songs.
16. The great ones who are yours, victorious one, seeking your favor with hymns, strewing the sacred grass as in a home — sheltered by you, Indra, they have won the prize.
17. In the mighty Trikadruka rites, indeed, hero, growing exhilarated, drink the soma, Indra. Shaking out your beard, well pleased, come with your two bay steeds to drink the pressed draught.
18. Take up your power, hero, by which you struck down Vṛtra, the Dānava, son of Urṇavābha. You uncovered the light for the Ārya; the Dasyu was laid low, Indra.
19. May we, overcoming every rival host with your help, win out over the Dasyus for the sake of the Ārya. You delivered up, for friendship's sake, to Trita, that creature of Tvaṣṭṛ, Viśvarūpa.
20. Strengthened by this exhilarating pressed soma of Trita, he cast down Arbuda. He set it rolling, as the sun rolls its wheel; Indra, with the Aṅgirases beside him, split open Vala.
21. Now may that bounteous gift of yours yield to the singer as he wishes, Indra. Be generous to your praisers; let our share of fortune not burn away. May we, blessed with able sons, speak boldly in the assembly.
Translator's note: verses 3, 7–8, and 14b turn on compressed, disputed Vedic idiom (the flow of pressed soma "as for Vāyu," the mountain's settling, the Maruts' "guarding the foremost place") whose precise sense is debated among Vedicists; they are rendered conservatively, following the visible sense of the Sanskrit words rather than any settled interpretation. In verse 3, "rudriyeṣu" (literally "belonging to Rudra") is rendered "the mighty ones" for readability, setting aside its direct link to Rudra.
Colophon
Rigveda II.11 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 II.11
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.
śrudhī havam indra mā riṣaṇyaḥ syāma te dāvane vasūnām |
imā hi tvām ūrjo vardhayanti vasūyavaḥ sindhavo na kṣarantaḥ || 1 ||
sṛjo mahīr indra yā apinvaḥ pariṣṭhitā ahinā śūra pūrvīḥ |
amartyaṁ cid dāsam manyamānam avābhinad ukthair vāvṛdhānaḥ || 2 ||
uktheṣv in nu śūra yeṣu cākan stomeṣv indra rudriyeṣu ca |
tubhyed etā yāsu mandasānaḥ pra vāyave sisrate na śubhrāḥ || 3 ||
śubhraṁ nu te śuṣmaṁ vardhayantaḥ śubhraṁ vajram bāhvor dadhānāḥ |
śubhras tvam indra vāvṛdhāno asme dāsīr viśaḥ sūryeṇa sahyāḥ || 4 ||
guhā hitaṁ guhyaṁ gūḻham apsv apīvṛtam māyinaṁ kṣiyantam |
uto apo dyāṁ tastabhvāṁsam ahann ahiṁ śūra vīryeṇa || 5 ||
stavā nu ta indra pūrvyā mahāny uta stavāma nūtanā kṛtāni |
stavā vajram bāhvor uśantaṁ stavā harī sūryasya ketū || 6 ||
harī nu ta indra vājayantā ghṛtaścutaṁ svāram asvārṣṭām |
vi samanā bhūmir aprathiṣṭāraṁsta parvataś cit sariṣyan || 7 ||
ni parvataḥ sādy aprayucchan sam mātṛbhir vāvaśāno akrān |
dūre pāre vāṇīṁ vardhayanta indreṣitāṁ dhamanim paprathan ni || 8 ||
indro mahāṁ sindhum āśayānam māyāvinaṁ vṛtram asphuran niḥ |
arejetāṁ rodasī bhiyāne kanikradato vṛṣṇo asya vajrāt || 9 ||
aroravīd vṛṣṇo asya vajro 'mānuṣaṁ yan mānuṣo nijūrvāt |
ni māyino dānavasya māyā apādayat papivān sutasya || 10 ||
pibā-pibed indra śūra somam mandantu tvā mandinaḥ sutāsaḥ |
pṛṇantas te kukṣī vardhayantv itthā sutaḥ paura indram āva || 11 ||
tve indrāpy abhūma viprā dhiyaṁ vanema ṛtayā sapantaḥ |
avasyavo dhīmahi praśastiṁ sadyas te rāyo dāvane syāma || 12 ||
syāma te ta indra ye ta ūtī avasyava ūrjaṁ vardhayantaḥ |
śuṣmintamaṁ yaṁ cākanāma devāsme rayiṁ rāsi vīravantam || 13 ||
rāsi kṣayaṁ rāsi mitram asme rāsi śardha indra mārutaṁ naḥ |
sajoṣaso ye ca mandasānāḥ pra vāyavaḥ pānty agraṇītim || 14 ||
vyantv in nu yeṣu mandasānas tṛpat somam pāhi drahyad indra |
asmān su pṛtsv ā tarutrāvardhayo dyām bṛhadbhir arkaiḥ || 15 ||
bṛhanta in nu ye te tarutrokthebhir vā sumnam āvivāsān |
stṛṇānāso barhiḥ pastyāvat tvotā id indra vājam agman || 16 ||
ugreṣv in nu śūra mandasānas trikadrukeṣu pāhi somam indra |
pradodhuvac chmaśruṣu prīṇāno yāhi haribhyāṁ sutasya pītim || 17 ||
dhiṣvā śavaḥ śūra yena vṛtram avābhinad dānum aurṇavābham |
apāvṛṇor jyotir āryāya ni savyataḥ sādi dasyur indra || 18 ||
sanema ye ta ūtibhis taranto viśvāḥ spṛdha āryeṇa dasyūn |
asmabhyaṁ tat tvāṣṭraṁ viśvarūpam arandhayaḥ sākhyasya tritāya || 19 ||
asya suvānasya mandinas tritasya ny arbudaṁ vāvṛdhāno astaḥ |
avartayat sūryo na cakram bhinad valam indro aṅgirasvān || 20 ||
nūnaṁ sā te prati varaṁ jaritre duhīyad indra dakṣiṇā maghonī |
śikṣā stotṛbhyo māti dhag bhago no bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 21 ||
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).