Hymn to Agni
Rigveda II.8 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. Praise now the yokings of Agni, as one urges racing chariots forward — praise the most glorious one, the bountiful giver.
2. He who is a good guide for the one who has given offerings, ageless, wearing down the miser — lovely in form, invoked with oblations.
3. He indeed who is praised with splendor in the houses at evening and at dawn, whose ordinance is never diminished.
4. Who shines out brilliantly with radiance like the light of heaven, with flame, adorned with his own ageless flames.
5. Following Atri, the hymns have strengthened sovereign Agni; he has taken on all glories.
6. By the help of Agni, Indra, Soma, and the gods, may we go forward unharmed together, and may we prevail over those who attack us.
Translator's note: verse 2's "arim" can mean either "enemy" or "stranger/niggard"; rendered here as "miser," the sense of a withholding rival, which fits the offering-giver/withholder contrast in the verse. Verse 4's "ajaraiḥ" ("ageless ones") is left implicit in Sanskrit as to what it modifies; it is most naturally read as Agni's own undying flames.
Colophon
Rigveda II.8 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.8
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.
vājayann iva nū rathān yogām̐ agner upa stuhi |
yaśastamasya mīḻhuṣaḥ || 1 ||
yaḥ sunītho dadāśuṣe 'juryo jarayann arim |
cārupratīka āhutaḥ || 2 ||
ya u śriyā dameṣv ā doṣoṣasi praśasyate |
yasya vrataṁ na mīyate || 3 ||
ā yaḥ sva1r ṇa bhānunā citro vibhāty arciṣā |
añjāno ajarair abhi || 4 ||
atrim anu svarājyam agnim ukthāni vāvṛdhuḥ |
viśvā adhi śriyo dadhe || 5 ||
agner indrasya somasya devānām ūtibhir vayam |
ariṣyantaḥ sacemahy abhi ṣyāma pṛtanyataḥ || 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).