Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara (with the Maruts)
Rigveda III.26 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.
The poets of the Kuśika clan call on Agni Vaiśvānara, "belonging to all people," with songs and oblations, then turn partway through to praise the Maruts, the storm-gods who ride with him. In its closing verses the hymn shifts voice entirely: Agni speaks of himself in the first person, naming his own body and powers.
1. We oblation-bearers, having discerned with the mind Agni Vaiśvānara, true to law, finder of the sunlight — we Kuśikas, desiring wealth, call with our songs upon the bounteous god, the charioteer, the joyous one.
2. We call that bright Agni for help — Vaiśvānara, Mātariśvan, worthy of hymns, Bṛhaspati of Manu's people — for communion with the gods: the inspired one, the hearer, the guest, the swift-moving.
3. Like a neighing horse, Vaiśvānara is kindled by the wives, by the Kuśikas, age after age. May that Agni of ours, wakeful among the immortals, grant us good strength of sons, good horses, and treasure.
4. Let the mighty flames go forth with their powers, mingled for splendor; they have yoked their dappled mares. The Maruts, the great bulls, possessors of all wealth, unassailable, make the mountains tremble.
5. We beg for the mighty, brilliant help of the Maruts, fire-adorned, known to all peoples. They, roaring, sons of Rudra, clothed in rain, like lions of impetuous power, bounteous.
6. Troop by troop, band by band, with our good praises we beg for the radiance of Agni and the might of the Maruts — they of the dappled horses, whose bounty never fails, who come to the sacrifice, wise at the ritual gatherings.
7. I am Agni by birth, Jātavedas. Ghee is my eye, immortal nectar is my mouth. I am the threefold radiance, measurer of the aerial region, the unceasing heat — by name I am the oblation.
8. With three purifying filters he indeed purified the radiant hymn, with the heart's thought, discerning by the light. By his own powers he won the highest treasure; then indeed he looked round upon heaven and earth.
9. The hundred-streamed, inexhaustible spring, the wise father of utterances, the confluent one rejoicing in the lap of his two parents — may the two world-halves bear him across, the truthful-speeched.
Translator's note: In verse 9, "meḻim" (rendered here conservatively as "the confluent one") is a rare and uncertain word; its precise sense is not settled. Verses 4–6 shift the hymn's address from Agni alone to the Maruts, a common pairing in Rigvedic praise; verses 7–9 shift again into Agni speaking of himself in the first person.
Colophon
Rigveda III.26 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.26
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.
vaiśvānaram manasāgniṁ nicāyyā haviṣmanto anuṣatyaṁ svarvidam |
sudānuṁ devaṁ rathiraṁ vasūyavo gīrbhī raṇvaṁ kuśikāso havāmahe || 1 ||
taṁ śubhram agnim avase havāmahe vaiśvānaram mātariśvānam ukthyam |
bṛhaspatim manuṣo devatātaye vipraṁ śrotāram atithiṁ raghuṣyadam || 2 ||
aśvo na krandañ janibhiḥ sam idhyate vaiśvānaraḥ kuśikebhir yuge-yuge |
sa no agniḥ suvīryaṁ svaśvyaṁ dadhātu ratnam amṛteṣu jāgṛviḥ || 3 ||
pra yantu vājās taviṣībhir agnayaḥ śubhe sammiślāḥ pṛṣatīr ayukṣata |
bṛhadukṣo maruto viśvavedasaḥ pra vepayanti parvatām̐ adābhyāḥ || 4 ||
agniśriyo maruto viśvakṛṣṭaya ā tveṣam ugram ava īmahe vayam |
te svānino rudriyā varṣanirṇijaḥ siṁhā na heṣakratavaḥ sudānavaḥ || 5 ||
vrātaṁ-vrātaṁ gaṇaṁ-gaṇaṁ suśastibhir agner bhāmam marutām oja īmahe |
pṛṣadaśvāso anavabhrarādhaso gantāro yajñaṁ vidatheṣu dhīrāḥ || 6 ||
agnir asmi janmanā jātavedā ghṛtam me cakṣur amṛtam ma āsan |
arkas tridhātū rajaso vimāno 'jasro gharmo havir asmi nāma || 7 ||
tribhiḥ pavitrair apupod dhy a1rkaṁ hṛdā matiṁ jyotir anu prajānan |
varṣiṣṭhaṁ ratnam akṛta svadhābhir ād id dyāvāpṛthivī pary apaśyat || 8 ||
śatadhāram utsam akṣīyamāṇaṁ vipaścitam pitaraṁ vaktvānām |
meḻim madantam pitror upasthe taṁ rodasī pipṛtaṁ satyavācam || 9 ||
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).