Hymn to Indra
Rigveda II.16 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. I bring forth for you a fine praise for the greatest of the true ones, as an oblation offered into kindled Agni. We call on Indra for help — unaging, wearing down his foes, grown strong, ever young.
2. Without great Indra, nothing at all exists; every heroic power is gathered together in him. He carries soma in his belly, great strength in his body, the mace in his hand, resolve in his head.
3. Your power cannot be overcome by the two worlds; your chariot, Indra, is matched by neither seas nor mountains. No one at all can overtake your mace when you fly, on your swift steeds, across many leagues.
4. All indeed bring their offering to him, the worshipful one, the bold one, the bull who attends. Bull, worship with the oblation, you who know best — drink, Indra, the soma with your bull-like radiance.
5. The bull's vat streams, the wave of sweetness, bull-food, for the bull to drink. The two bull-strong adhvaryu priests, the bull-like pressing stones, press the bull soma for the bull.
6. Bull-like is your mace, and bull-like your chariot, bull-like your two bay steeds, bull-like your weapons. O bull, you are lord of the bull-like exhilaration; Indra, be sated with the bull soma.
7. Bold, I come forward with prayer at the soma-pressings, like a ship eager for speech in the contest. May he indeed heed this word of ours — we pour ourselves out toward Indra as toward a spring of wealth.
8. Before distress comes upon us, turn toward us, as a milk-cow, full with pasture, turns to her calf. Just once, O hundred-powered one, let us join with your favors, as bulls unite with their mates.
9. Now may that choicest gift of yours, Indra, be milked out for the singer — your generous, bounteous portion. Grant to your praisers; let not our good fortune fail. May we speak boldly in the assembly, rich in fine sons.
Translator's note: verses 5–6 pile up forms of the root vṛṣan/vṛṣabha ("bull," and by extension "virile," "mighty") applied to Indra, his soma, his weapons, and the ritual implements alike; the repetition is in the Sanskrit itself and is kept rather than varied in English. Verse 7's image of a "ship eager for speech" (nāvaṁ... vacasyuvam) is compressed and uncertain in its exact sense; it is rendered conservatively here.
Colophon
Rigveda II.16 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.16
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 vaḥ satāṁ jyeṣṭhatamāya suṣṭutim agnāv iva samidhāne havir bhare |
indram ajuryaṁ jarayantam ukṣitaṁ sanād yuvānam avase havāmahe || 1 ||
yasmād indrād bṛhataḥ kiṁ canem ṛte viśvāny asmin sambhṛtādhi vīryā |
jaṭhare somaṁ tanvī3 saho maho haste vajram bharati śīrṣaṇi kratum || 2 ||
na kṣoṇībhyām paribhve ta indriyaṁ na samudraiḥ parvatair indra te rathaḥ |
na te vajram anv aśnoti kaś cana yad āśubhiḥ patasi yojanā puru || 3 ||
viśve hy asmai yajatāya dhṛṣṇave kratum bharanti vṛṣabhāya saścate |
vṛṣā yajasva haviṣā viduṣṭaraḥ pibendra somaṁ vṛṣabheṇa bhānunā || 4 ||
vṛṣṇaḥ kośaḥ pavate madhva ūrmir vṛṣabhānnāya vṛṣabhāya pātave |
vṛṣaṇādhvaryū vṛṣabhāso adrayo vṛṣaṇaṁ somaṁ vṛṣabhāya suṣvati || 5 ||
vṛṣā te vajra uta te vṛṣā ratho vṛṣaṇā harī vṛṣabhāṇy āyudhā |
vṛṣṇo madasya vṛṣabha tvam īśiṣa indra somasya vṛṣabhasya tṛpṇuhi || 6 ||
pra te nāvaṁ na samane vacasyuvam brahmaṇā yāmi savaneṣu dādhṛṣiḥ |
kuvin no asya vacaso nibodhiṣad indram utsaṁ na vasunaḥ sicāmahe || 7 ||
purā sambādhād abhy ā vavṛtsva no dhenur na vatsaṁ yavasasya pipyuṣī |
sakṛt su te sumatibhiḥ śatakrato sam patnībhir na vṛṣaṇo nasīmahi || 8 ||
nūnaṁ sā te prati varaṁ jaritre duhīyad indra dakṣiṇā maghonī |
śikṣā stotṛbhyo māti dhag bhago no bṛhad vadema vidathe suvīrāḥ || 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).