Āprī Hymn — to Agni and the Deities of the Sacrifice

Rigveda II.3 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.

This is an Āprī hymn — a fixed liturgical sequence recited at the animal sacrifice, moving through kindled Agni, Narāśaṃsa, the sacred grass, the divine doors, Night and Dawn, the two Hotar-priests, the three goddesses Sarasvatī, Iḷā, and Bhāratī, Tvaṣṭṛ, Vanaspati, and finally the offering made with the cry "svāhā." Each verse addresses the next deity or ritual object in turn as the sacrifice unfolds.

1. Kindled, Agni is set upon the earth; he has taken his stand facing all the worlds. The purifying priest, wise from ancient time — let the god Agni, worthy one, worship the gods.

2. Narāśaṃsa, anointing the sacred forms, facing the three heavens in his greatness, brightly blazing — sprinkling the offering with drops of ghee, in mind, at the head of the sacrifice — let him anoint the gods together.

3. Invoked with our mind, O Agni, worthy one — worship the gods today, going before us mortals. Bring here the unshaken host of the Maruts, and Indra; worship him, O men, as he sits upon the sacred grass.

4. O god, here is the sacred grass, growing, rich in heroes, strewn on this altar for wealth, well-laden, anointed with ghee — sit down upon it, O Vasus; all the gods, the Ādityas, worthy of the sacrifice.

5. Let the divine Doors, being invoked, swing wide, easy of passage through our homage; let the spacious, unaging ones spread open, purifying our lineage, glorious, rich in heroes.

6. Dawn and Night, accomplishing good works from of old, the two who swell with abundance, delightful like two weavers — weaving together the outstretched thread, united, the ornament of the sacrifice, the two milk-rich, well-milking ones.

7. The two divine Hotar-priests, first and most knowing, worship rightly; the two more radiant ones, together with the hymn, worshipping the gods each in due season, anoint them together — at the navel of the earth, upon the three heights.

8. Sarasvatī, perfecting our prayer, the goddess Iḷā, and Bhāratī who overcomes all — let the three goddesses, by their own power, having sat down as our shelter, guard this sacred grass unbroken.

9. Tawny of form, well-sustaining, bestowing vital power — quickly a hero is born, one who loves the gods. Let Tvaṣṭṛ release offspring, our kinship, among us; and let it go on to the domain of the gods.

10. Vanaspati, releasing the offering, has stood near; Agni, with his insights, makes the oblation ready. Let the divine slaughterer, knowing, lead the offering, anointed threefold, up to the gods.

11. He is mingled with ghee; ghee is his womb; he rests in ghee; ghee indeed is his dwelling. Bring the gods here as is their wont, and rejoice; carry the oblation made with "svāhā," O bull.

Translator's note: verse 9's "prajāṁ ... nābhim asme" is compressed and grammatically ambiguous — rendered here conservatively as Tvaṣṭṛ releasing offspring/kinship among the sacrificers. Verse 10's "śamitā" (the ritual "pacifier," i.e. the priest who dresses the victim) is rendered "the divine slaughterer" to keep its ritual sense plain.

Colophon

Rigveda II.3 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.3

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.

samiddho agnir nihitaḥ pṛthivyām pratyaṅ viśvāni bhuvanāny asthāt |
hotā pāvakaḥ pradivaḥ sumedhā devo devān yajatv agnir arhan || 1 ||

narāśaṁsaḥ prati dhāmāny añjan tisro divaḥ prati mahnā svarciḥ |
ghṛtapruṣā manasā havyam undan mūrdhan yajñasya sam anaktu devān || 2 ||

īḻito agne manasā no arhan devān yakṣi mānuṣāt pūrvo adya |
sa ā vaha marutāṁ śardho acyutam indraṁ naro barhiṣadaṁ yajadhvam || 3 ||

deva barhir vardhamānaṁ suvīraṁ stīrṇaṁ rāye subharaṁ vedy asyām |
ghṛtenāktaṁ vasavaḥ sīdatedaṁ viśve devā ādityā yajñiyāsaḥ || 4 ||

vi śrayantām urviyā hūyamānā dvāro devīḥ suprāyaṇā namobhiḥ |
vyacasvatīr vi prathantām ajuryā varṇam punānā yaśasaṁ suvīram || 5 ||

sādhv apāṁsi sanatā na ukṣite uṣāsānaktā vayyeva raṇvite |
tantuṁ tataṁ saṁvayantī samīcī yajñasya peśaḥ sudughe payasvatī || 6 ||

daivyā hotārā prathamā viduṣṭara ṛju yakṣataḥ sam ṛcā vapuṣṭarā |
devān yajantāv ṛtuthā sam añjato nābhā pṛthivyā adhi sānuṣu triṣu || 7 ||

sarasvatī sādhayantī dhiyaṁ na iḻā devī bhāratī viśvatūrtiḥ |
tisro devīḥ svadhayā barhir edam acchidram pāntu śaraṇaṁ niṣadya || 8 ||

piśaṅgarūpaḥ subharo vayodhāḥ śruṣṭī vīro jāyate devakāmaḥ |
prajāṁ tvaṣṭā vi ṣyatu nābhim asme athā devānām apy etu pāthaḥ || 9 ||

vanaspatir avasṛjann upa sthād agnir haviḥ sūdayāti pra dhībhiḥ |
tridhā samaktaṁ nayatu prajānan devebhyo daivyaḥ śamitopa havyam || 10 ||

ghṛtam mimikṣe ghṛtam asya yonir ghṛte śrito ghṛtam v asya dhāma |
anuṣvadham ā vaha mādayasva svāhākṛtaṁ vṛṣabha vakṣi havyam || 11 ||

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).