Hymn to Agni
Rigveda II.7 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. Youngest one, Bhārata Agni — bring us the best, radiant wealth, O good lord, the wealth that many desire.
2. Let no hostility, whether of a god or of a mortal, have power over us. Carry us safely across that hatred too.
3. And with you, may we plunge through every hatred, as streams of water surge onward.
4. Pure, purifying, worthy of praise, Agni — you shine forth vastly, offered with ghee.
5. You are ours, Bhārata Agni, offered with barren cows and bulls, with eight-footed ones.
6. Fed on wood, poured with ghee, the ancient priest worth choosing — the wondrous son of strength.
Translator's note: verse 5's "aṣṭāpadībhiḥ" ("eight-footed ones") is an obscure term for the offering — possibly draft-animal teams or a ritual implement — and is rendered literally rather than guessed at.
Colophon
Rigveda II.7 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda II.7
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.
śreṣṭhaṁ yaviṣṭha bhāratāgne dyumantam ā bhara |
vaso puruspṛhaṁ rayim || 1 ||
mā no arātir īśata devasya martyasya ca |
parṣi tasyā uta dviṣaḥ || 2 ||
viśvā uta tvayā vayaṁ dhārā udanyā iva |
ati gāhemahi dviṣaḥ || 3 ||
śuciḥ pāvaka vandyo 'gne bṛhad vi rocase |
tvaṁ ghṛtebhir āhutaḥ || 4 ||
tvaṁ no asi bhāratāgne vaśābhir ukṣabhiḥ |
aṣṭāpadībhir āhutaḥ || 5 ||
drvannaḥ sarpirāsutiḥ pratno hotā vareṇyaḥ |
sahasas putro adbhutaḥ || 6 ||
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).