Hymn to Agni
Rigveda III.6 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. Forth, O singers, stirred by thought, lead onward — you who seek the gods — the offering that goes toward the gods. Bearing gifts, vigorous, it goes forward; they bring the ghee-laden oblation to Agni.
2. At your birth you filled the two world-halves, and you surpassed them too, now indeed, O worthy of worship. O Agni, by your greatness — of heaven, of earth — let your seven-tongued flames rise up.
3. Heaven and Earth, worthy of worship, seat you as priest in the house. When the human clans, seeking the gods and bringing offerings, call upon your bright flame —
4. Great, firmly seated in his place, cherished between the two mighty ones, close together, unaging, undiminished — the two milk-yielding cows of the far-strider.
5. Your ordinances, O Agni, great one, are mighty; by your power you have stretched out the two world-halves. You became the messenger at your birth; you, O bull, are the leader of the peoples.
6. Yoke with the harness-straps the two long-maned, ghee-dripping ruddy steeds of cosmic order. Then, O god, bring hither all the gods; make the rite go well, O Jātavedas.
7. Even from heaven your lights shine; you shine following the many bright dawns. When you, O Agni, burn eagerly in the woods toward the waters, the gods marvel at the joyous priest.
8. To those who rejoice in the wide midair, or those gods who dwell in heaven's light, or those helpers easily called, worthy of worship — O Agni, the chariot-horses have been reined in.
9. With these, O Agni, come hither in one chariot, or in separate chariots, for your horses are mighty. Bring the thirty-three gods together with their wives, each in their own way, and take your delight.
10. He is the priest whose growth even the two wide world-halves praise at each and every sacrifice. The two fair ones stand forth as for a rite, truthful, in the truth of him who is born of order.
11. O Agni, grant to us who call on you refreshment rich in wonders, the most abiding gain of cattle. May there be to us a son, an offspring who continues the line; O Agni, may that goodwill of yours be with us.
Translator's note: Verse 4 is obscure. "sapatnī" (the two co-wives/rivals) and "dhenū" (the two milch-cows) both appear to be epithets for Heaven and Earth, paired here with Agni seated between them; "urugāyasya" ("of the far-strider" or "of the widely-praised one") may refer to Viṣṇu or to Agni himself — the referent is not certain, and the rendering above is conservative.
Colophon
Rigveda III.6 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.6
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.
pra kāravo mananā vacyamānā devadrīcīṁ nayata devayantaḥ |
dakṣiṇāvāḍ vājinī prācy eti havir bharanty agnaye ghṛtācī || 1 ||
ā rodasī apṛṇā jāyamāna uta pra rikthā adha nu prayajyo |
divaś cid agne mahinā pṛthivyā vacyantāṁ te vahnayaḥ saptajihvāḥ || 2 ||
dyauś ca tvā pṛthivī yajñiyāso ni hotāraṁ sādayante damāya |
yadī viśo mānuṣīr devayantīḥ prayasvatīr īḻate śukram arciḥ || 3 ||
mahān sadhasthe dhruva ā niṣatto 'ntar dyāvā māhine haryamāṇaḥ |
āskre sapatnī ajare amṛkte sabardughe urugāyasya dhenū || 4 ||
vratā te agne mahato mahāni tava kratvā rodasī ā tatantha |
tvaṁ dūto abhavo jāyamānas tvaṁ netā vṛṣabha carṣaṇīnām || 5 ||
ṛtasya vā keśinā yogyābhir ghṛtasnuvā rohitā dhuri dhiṣva |
athā vaha devān deva viśvān svadhvarā kṛṇuhi jātavedaḥ || 6 ||
divaś cid ā te rucayanta rokā uṣo vibhātīr anu bhāsi pūrvīḥ |
apo yad agna uśadhag vaneṣu hotur mandrasya panayanta devāḥ || 7 ||
urau vā ye antarikṣe madanti divo vā ye rocane santi devāḥ |
ūmā vā ye suhavāso yajatrā āyemire rathyo agne aśvāḥ || 8 ||
aibhir agne sarathaṁ yāhy arvāṅ nānārathaṁ vā vibhavo hy aśvāḥ |
patnīvatas triṁśataṁ trīm̐ś ca devān anuṣvadham ā vaha mādayasva || 9 ||
sa hotā yasya rodasī cid urvī yajñaṁ-yajñam abhi vṛdhe gṛṇītaḥ |
prācī adhvareva tasthatuḥ sumeke ṛtāvarī ṛtajātasya satye || 10 ||
iḻām agne purudaṁsaṁ saniṁ goḥ śaśvattamaṁ havamānāya sādha |
syān naḥ sūnus tanayo vijāvāgne sā te sumatir bhūtv asme || 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).