Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara
Rigveda III.3 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. To Vaiśvānara of broad splendor the singers have offered treasures in the sustaining places, for the journey. For Agni, the immortal, waits upon the gods, and has never, from of old, spoiled the ordinances.
2. Between the two world-halves the wondrous one goes as messenger, seated as the offering-priest, the household-priest of man. Agni, sent forth, rich in wisdom, adorns the vast dwelling day by day, together with the gods.
3. The inspired poets magnify with their insight Agni, the banner of the sacrifices, the one who brings the ritual gathering to success. In him they have set their labors and their songs; in him the sacrificer seeks his blessings.
4. Agni is the father of the sacrifices, the mighty lord of the wise, the measure and the guide-mark of the officiating priests. Taking on many shapes he has entered the two world-halves; the much-loved sage is praised for his abodes.
5. Agni the shining, with a shining chariot, whose ways are bright, Vaiśvānara, dwelling in the waters, finder of the sun's light — the plunging one, the swift one, wrapped in his own mighty strength, the impetuous one: the gods have set him here in good splendor.
6. Agni, together with the gods and with the creatures of humankind, weaves out the many-colored sacrifice by his insight. As charioteer he moves between them with those who accomplish their aims, the swift one, the master of the house, the one who drives off false accusation.
7. O Agni, grow old in a lifetime rich in good offspring; swell with strength, shine nourishment upon us. Quicken our vital powers, wakeful one of the mighty — you are the eager messenger of the gods, of good purpose among the inspired.
8. The men ever proclaim, with homage and with eager zeal, for his increase — the lord of the people, the mighty young one, the guest, the guide of devotions and the eager herald of the priests, the one aware of the rites, Jātavedas.
9. The far-shining god, delightful, Agni, with his strength has spread himself around the settlements, his chariot joyous. May we, abounding in nourishment, attend upon his ordinances in the house, with well-fashioned praise-songs.
10. O Vaiśvānara, I long for your stations, by which, all-seeing one, you became the finder of the sun's light. At birth you filled the worlds and the two world-halves; O Agni, by your own nature you encompass all these.
11. By the mighty acts of Vaiśvānara, the one sage, through his own skillful working, set the great one flowing. Honoring both parents, Agni was born — Heaven and Earth, of abundant seed.
Translator's note: several epithets resist a single fixed English equivalent — "jarasva" (7, "grow old") is a middle imperative that could instead belong to the homophonous root meaning "be sung, be praised"; the formulaic parallel "svapatya āyuni" (in a lifetime rich in good offspring) elsewhere in the Rigveda favors "grow old," the reading given here; "harivrata" (5, "whose ways are bright") may instead mean "whose ordinance follows the tawny [horses/flames]"; "vayāṁsi" (7, "vital powers") can also mean "birds"; "bṛhad ariṇāt" (11, "set the great one flowing") is a compact idiom whose referent (light, flood, or world) the Sanskrit leaves unstated. Each is rendered conservatively rather than resolved by guesswork.
Colophon
Rigveda III.3 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.3
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.
vaiśvānarāya pṛthupājase vipo ratnā vidhanta dharuṇeṣu gātave |
agnir hi devām̐ amṛto duvasyaty athā dharmāṇi sanatā na dūduṣat || 1 ||
antar dūto rodasī dasma īyate hotā niṣatto manuṣaḥ purohitaḥ |
kṣayam bṛhantam pari bhūṣati dyubhir devebhir agnir iṣito dhiyāvasuḥ || 2 ||
ketuṁ yajñānāṁ vidathasya sādhanaṁ viprāso agnim mahayanta cittibhiḥ |
apāṁsi yasminn adhi saṁdadhur giras tasmin sumnāni yajamāna ā cake || 3 ||
pitā yajñānām asuro vipaścitāṁ vimānam agnir vayunaṁ ca vāghatām |
ā viveśa rodasī bhūrivarpasā purupriyo bhandate dhāmabhiḥ kaviḥ || 4 ||
candram agniṁ candrarathaṁ harivrataṁ vaiśvānaram apsuṣadaṁ svarvidam |
vigāhaṁ tūrṇiṁ taviṣībhir āvṛtam bhūrṇiṁ devāsa iha suśriyaṁ dadhuḥ || 5 ||
agnir devebhir manuṣaś ca jantubhis tanvāno yajñam purupeśasaṁ dhiyā |
rathīr antar īyate sādhadiṣṭibhir jīro damūnā abhiśasticātanaḥ || 6 ||
agne jarasva svapatya āyuny ūrjā pinvasva sam iṣo didīhi naḥ |
vayāṁsi jinva bṛhataś ca jāgṛva uśig devānām asi sukratur vipām || 7 ||
viśpatiṁ yahvam atithiṁ naraḥ sadā yantāraṁ dhīnām uśijaṁ ca vāghatām |
adhvarāṇāṁ cetanaṁ jātavedasam pra śaṁsanti namasā jūtibhir vṛdhe || 8 ||
vibhāvā devaḥ suraṇaḥ pari kṣitīr agnir babhūva śavasā sumadrathaḥ |
tasya vratāni bhūripoṣiṇo vayam upa bhūṣema dama ā suvṛktibhiḥ || 9 ||
vaiśvānara tava dhāmāny ā cake yebhiḥ svarvid abhavo vicakṣaṇa |
jāta āpṛṇo bhuvanāni rodasī agne tā viśvā paribhūr asi tmanā || 10 ||
vaiśvānarasya daṁsanābhyo bṛhad ariṇād ekaḥ svapasyayā kaviḥ |
ubhā pitarā mahayann ajāyatāgnir dyāvāpṛthivī bhūriretasā || 11 ||
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).