Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.25 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. O Agni, you are the son of heaven, wise, and of the earth's whole extent, and all-knowing. Worship the gods here, each in turn, O attentive one.
2. Agni, the knowing one, wins heroic powers; he wins strength, serving the immortal. Bring the gods here for us, O you rich in food.
3. Agni, unerring, shines upon Heaven and Earth, the two immortal goddesses who bring forth all beings; very bright, he dwells amid strength and prizes, through our homage.
4. O Agni and Indra, come here to the sacrifice, to the house of the devout presser of soma, not failing us, O gods, for the drinking of soma.
5. O Agni, ever-constant, you are kindled in the abode of the waters, O son of strength, O knower of all that is born, magnifying the gathering-places with your protection.
Translator's note: verse 3's "amūraḥ" (literally "not foolish, unconfused") is rendered "unerring"; "sadhasthāni" in verse 5 (ritual gathering-places / stations of the gods) is kept close to its literal sense.
Colophon
Rigveda III.25 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.25
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.
agne divaḥ sūnur asi pracetās tanā pṛthivyā uta viśvavedāḥ |
ṛdhag devām̐ iha yajā cikitvaḥ || 1 ||
agniḥ sanoti vīryāṇi vidvān sanoti vājam amṛtāya bhūṣan |
sa no devām̐ eha vahā purukṣo || 2 ||
agnir dyāvāpṛthivī viśvajanye ā bhāti devī amṛte amūraḥ |
kṣayan vājaiḥ puruścandro namobhiḥ || 3 ||
agna indraś ca dāśuṣo duroṇe sutāvato yajñam ihopa yātam |
amardhantā somapeyāya devā || 4 ||
agne apāṁ sam idhyase duroṇe nityaḥ sūno sahaso jātavedaḥ |
sadhasthāni mahayamāna ūtī || 5 ||
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).