Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.15 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. Blazing with your broad radiance, drive off the hostile rākṣasas, the afflictions. May I be in the shelter of the great, good shelter-giver, under the guidance of Agni, who answers every call.
2. At the breaking of this dawn, be ours; at sunrise, be our watchful guardian. Accept my hymn, O Agni, well-born in your own form, as one cherishes an eternal son.
3. You who watch over men, shine forth ruddy, O Agni, through the many dark nights. O good one, you lead us and carry us safely across distress; make us wealthy, O eager, youngest one.
4. Unconquered bull, O Agni, shine forth, having won all good fortunes before us. Leader of the sacrifice, first protector, O Jātavedas, well-guiding one of the great rite.
5. Grant unbroken shelters, many of them, to the singer — shining toward the gods, wise one. Like a winning chariot you carry us to the prize; O Agni, make the two world-halves gracious to us.
6. Swell forth, O bull, quicken our rewards; O Agni, make the two world-halves richly yielding for us. Shining with fair brightness among the gods, O god — let no mortal's ill will beset us.
7. Grant, O Agni, to the one who calls you, lasting refreshment, rich in manifold wonders, the gain of cattle. May we have a son, an offspring rich in descendants — O Agni, may that favor of yours be with us.
Translator's note: verse 5's "jaritaḥ" (addressed to "the singer/praiser") is a slightly irregular form; rendered here conservatively as a dative sense, "for the singer." Verse 1's "suhavasya" (of one easily/well invoked) is rendered "who answers every call" to keep the line in modern English.
Colophon
Rigveda III.15 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.15
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.
vi pājasā pṛthunā śośucāno bādhasva dviṣo rakṣaso amīvāḥ |
suśarmaṇo bṛhataḥ śarmaṇi syām agner ahaṁ suhavasya praṇītau || 1 ||
tvaṁ no asyā uṣaso vyuṣṭau tvaṁ sūra udite bodhi gopāḥ |
janmeva nityaṁ tanayaṁ juṣasva stomam me agne tanvā sujāta || 2 ||
tvaṁ nṛcakṣā vṛṣabhānu pūrvīḥ kṛṣṇāsv agne aruṣo vi bhāhi |
vaso neṣi ca parṣi cāty aṁhaḥ kṛdhī no rāya uśijo yaviṣṭha || 3 ||
aṣāḻho agne vṛṣabho didīhi puro viśvāḥ saubhagā saṁjigīvān |
yajñasya netā prathamasya pāyor jātavedo bṛhataḥ supraṇīte || 4 ||
acchidrā śarma jaritaḥ purūṇi devām̐ acchā dīdyānaḥ sumedhāḥ |
ratho na sasnir abhi vakṣi vājam agne tvaṁ rodasī naḥ sumeke || 5 ||
pra pīpaya vṛṣabha jinva vājān agne tvaṁ rodasī naḥ sudoghe |
devebhir deva surucā rucāno mā no martasya durmatiḥ pari ṣṭhāt || 6 ||
iḻām agne purudaṁsaṁ saniṁ goḥ śaśvattamaṁ havamānāya sādha |
syān naḥ sūnus tanayo vijāvāgne sā te sumatir bhūtv asme || 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).