Hymn to Indra
Rigveda III.49 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. Proclaim great Indra, in whom all the soma-drinking peoples have found their desire fulfilled — whom, full of good will, shaped by Vibhvan through devotion, the gods brought forth as the smasher of obstructions.
2. Whom indeed no one surpasses in battles, the self-ruling one, most manly, rider of bay steeds — most mighty, who with his bands of warriors, with vigorous onrushes, with wide strides, cut short the life of the dasyu.
3. Powerful in battles, swift as a racehorse, pervading the two world-halves, bountiful — to be invoked like Bhaga in the working of our hymns, dear as a father, easy to call upon, bestower of vital strength.
4. Upholder of heaven, risen high on the ridge of the atmosphere, like a chariot, like Vāyu with his team, accompanied by the Vasus; illuminator of the nights, begetter of the sun, apportioner of the share, like devotion apportioning the prize.
5. Let us call, for our good, on bountiful Indra, most manly in this fight, in the winning of the prize — the fierce one who listens, for help in combats, who slays the obstructing foes, winner of riches.
Translator's note: verse 1's "dhiṣaṇe vibhvataṣṭaṁ" is obscure — rendered here conservatively as "shaped by Vibhvan through devotion," following the sense of dhiṣaṇā as insight/devotion and vibhva-taṣṭa as "fashioned by Vibhvan" (one of the Ṛbhu craftsmen), though the exact construction admits other readings. Verse 4's "dhiṣaṇeva vājam" is likewise compressed and rendered conservatively as a simile of apportioning.
Colophon
Rigveda III.49 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda III.49
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.
śaṁsā mahām indraṁ yasmin viśvā ā kṛṣṭayaḥ somapāḥ kāmam avyan |
yaṁ sukratuṁ dhiṣaṇe vibhvataṣṭaṁ ghanaṁ vṛtrāṇāṁ janayanta devāḥ || 1 ||
yaṁ nu nakiḥ pṛtanāsu svarājaṁ dvitā tarati nṛtamaṁ hariṣṭhām |
inatamaḥ satvabhir yo ha śūṣaiḥ pṛthujrayā aminād āyur dasyoḥ || 2 ||
sahāvā pṛtsu taraṇir nārvā vyānaśī rodasī mehanāvān |
bhago na kāre havyo matīnām piteva cāruḥ suhavo vayodhāḥ || 3 ||
dhartā divo rajasas pṛṣṭa ūrdhvo ratho na vāyur vasubhir niyutvān |
kṣapāṁ vastā janitā sūryasya vibhaktā bhāgaṁ dhiṣaṇeva vājam || 4 ||
śunaṁ huvema maghavānam indram asmin bhare nṛtamaṁ vājasātau |
śṛṇvantam ugram ūtaye samatsu ghnantaṁ vṛtrāṇi saṁjitaṁ dhanānām || 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).