Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.13 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 3 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. Sing out to Agni the god, best at the sacred grass — praise him. May he come here together with the gods; may he, most worthy of sacrifice among us, take his seat on the barhis.
2. He who holds to truth, whose helping powers accompany the two world-halves and his own skill — those bearing oblations call on him; those seeking to gain call on him for protection.
3. He is the guide, the inspired one, of these rites; he is the guide of the sacrifices, and indeed he is. Honor that Agni of yours, who is the giver, who wins the reward.
4. May that Agni grant us the most comforting shelters, for our enjoyment — wealth that, like falling rain, may come to us from the sky, from the waters, for our dwelling-places.
5. The singers kindle Agni, the shining one, without precedent, with their good hymns of devotion — Agni the invoking priest, the lord of the clans, of the people.
6. And, O holy one, help us in our hymns, best invoker of the gods among all. Blaze well for us, O Agni, strengthener of the Maruts, best winner of a thousand rewards.
7. Now grant us wealth — rich in thousands, rich in offspring, rich in nourishment; and, O Agni, radiant and highest, an unfailing excellence of strength.
Translator's note: verse 2's "dakṣaṁ sacanta ūtayaḥ" and verse 4's "pruṣṇavad vasu" are compressed, image-heavy phrases without a single settled English equivalent; they are rendered conservatively above, keeping the sense of Agni's powers "following" or "accompanying" the world-halves and of wealth arriving like scattered rain-drops.
Colophon
Rigveda III.13 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 III.13
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 vo devāyāgnaye barhiṣṭham arcāsmai |
gamad devebhir ā sa no yajiṣṭho barhir ā sadat || 1 ||
ṛtāvā yasya rodasī dakṣaṁ sacanta ūtayaḥ |
haviṣmantas tam īḻate taṁ saniṣyanto 'vase || 2 ||
sa yantā vipra eṣāṁ sa yajñānām athā hi ṣaḥ |
agniṁ taṁ vo duvasyata dātā yo vanitā magham || 3 ||
sa naḥ śarmāṇi vītaye 'gnir yacchatu śaṁtamā |
yato naḥ pruṣṇavad vasu divi kṣitibhyo apsv ā || 4 ||
dīdivāṁsam apūrvyaṁ vasvībhir asya dhītibhiḥ |
ṛkvāṇo agnim indhate hotāraṁ viśpatiṁ viśām || 5 ||
uta no brahmann aviṣa uktheṣu devahūtamaḥ |
śaṁ naḥ śocā marudvṛdho 'gne sahasrasātamaḥ || 6 ||
nū no rāsva sahasravat tokavat puṣṭimad vasu |
dyumad agne suvīryaṁ varṣiṣṭham anupakṣitam || 7 ||
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).