Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.16 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 4 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. Let the true, bounteous one, drinker of the pressed remains, come; let his bay horses race here to us. For him we have pressed the potent juice; being praised, let him make his arrival here.
2. Let him come down, hero, not at the far end of the road but here, to delight in our pressing today. Like the sage Uśanā, the ordainer proclaims the hymn — a thought for the wise, mighty one.
3. Like a sage revealing what is hidden, accomplishing the rites, when the bull, drinking deep of the outpoured juice, sang out — thus from heaven he brought forth seven singers; by day, praising, they made known his paths.
4. When with his flashing hymns he found heaven fair to see, when at daybreak they made the great light shine, he drove the blind, churning darkness into sight — the mightiest of men acted for men, in their hour of need.
5. Indra the ṛjīṣin grew immeasurable; with his greatness he filled both world-halves. Yet even beyond that his greatness overflows — he who has come to surpass all creatures.
6. Mighty Indra, knowing all deeds of manly strength, released the waters with his eager companions — those who split even the rock with their chants, the eager singers who threw open the cattle-pen.
7. You struck down Vṛtra, who had walled in the waters; the earth, at one with you, aided your bolt. You set the sea-floods flowing, becoming their lord through your might, o bold hero.
8. When, much-invoked one, you split the mountain to free the waters, Saramā appeared before you, first to show the way. Be our leader now; tear open abundant strength for us, breaking the cow-stalls, praised by the Aṅgirases.
9. Turn toward the sage who implores you in his need, o man-hearted one, o bounteous lord, in the winning of the sun; you speed him on with your help in his call for glory — and the deceitful, prayerless Dasyu was struck down.
10. Come home with your Dasyu-slaying purpose; Kutsa has grown eager for your friendship. The two of you, alike in form, take your seat in your own dwelling — let the truth-discerning woman tell you two apart.
11. You ride the same chariot with Kutsa, seeking his aid, goading the wind, lord of the two bay steeds — wishing to win the ruddy ones as a prize to be seized, when the sage made himself ready for the decisive day.
12. For Kutsa's sake you struck down unrelenting Śuṣṇa; at the close of day, with thousands, you crushed Kuyava. Crush the Dasyus at once for Kutsa's sake; may the sun's wheel be torn loose in that combat.
13. You subdued Pipru, the fierce one grown strong in power, and delivered him to Ṛjiśvan, son of Vidathin. You struck down fifty thousand dark warriors, and, like old age tearing a garment, tore apart their strongholds.
14. When, setting your body close by the sun, your immortal form becomes visible — like a wild elephant putting on its strength, terrifying as a lion, bearing your weapons.
15. Desires seeking wealth have come to Indra, delighting as in the pressing at the contest for the sun — men eager for fame, laboring with their hymns, welcome as home, like fair, thriving abundance.
16. Let us call upon that Indra of yours, easy to summon, who did those many deeds of manly strength — who, for a singer like me, quickly brings even the hard-won prize, he whose gifts are worth desiring.
17. When the sharp bolt flies down amid any tumult of peoples, o hero, when the terrible clash with the foe comes — then be the guardian of our bodies.
18. Be the helper of Vāmadeva's thoughts; be a friend free of guile in the winning of the prize. We have come to you seeking your forethought — may you, of far-reaching fame, be always with the singer.
19. With these men devoted to you, Indra, bounteous ones with you the bounteous, in every contest — surpassing the rival like the heavens in splendor, may we rejoice through the nights and through many years to come.
20. Thus indeed for Indra, the bull, the mighty one, we have fashioned this prayer, as the Bhṛgus fashioned a chariot — so that his friendship may never leave us, so that the mighty one may be our protector, guardian of our bodies.
21. Now praised, Indra, now extolled, swell forth abundance for the singer, as rivers swell. A new prayer has been made for you, o lord of the bay steeds — through our devotion may we be charioteers, ever triumphant.
Translator's note: several phrases mark deliberately conservative renderings of compressed Vedic idiom. Verse 10's "alike in form" and "truth-discerning woman" refer to the myth in which Indra takes on Kutsa's likeness, so that only Kutsa's wife can tell the two apart. Verse 11's "ṛjrā" (the ruddy ones) may name particular horses rather than describe a general prize; it is rendered literally. Verse 12's "the sun's wheel... torn loose" alludes to the story of Indra tearing a wheel from the sun's chariot to aid Kutsa. Verse 16's "gadhyam" (something to be seized or grasped) is rendered "the hard-won prize."
Colophon
Rigveda IV.16 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 IV.16
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.
ā satyo yātu maghavām̐ ṛjīṣī dravantv asya haraya upa naḥ |
tasmā id andhaḥ suṣumā sudakṣam ihābhipitvaṁ karate gṛṇānaḥ || 1 ||
ava sya śūrādhvano nānte 'smin no adya savane mandadhyai |
śaṁsāty uktham uśaneva vedhāś cikituṣe asuryāya manma || 2 ||
kavir na niṇyaṁ vidathāni sādhan vṛṣā yat sekaṁ vipipāno arcāt |
diva itthā jījanat sapta kārūn ahnā cic cakrur vayunā gṛṇantaḥ || 3 ||
sva1r yad vedi sudṛśīkam arkair mahi jyotī rurucur yad dha vastoḥ |
andhā tamāṁsi dudhitā vicakṣe nṛbhyaś cakāra nṛtamo abhiṣṭau || 4 ||
vavakṣa indro amitam ṛjīṣy u1bhe ā paprau rodasī mahitvā |
ataś cid asya mahimā vi recy abhi yo viśvā bhuvanā babhūva || 5 ||
viśvāni śakro naryāṇi vidvān apo rireca sakhibhir nikāmaiḥ |
aśmānaṁ cid ye bibhidur vacobhir vrajaṁ gomantam uśijo vi vavruḥ || 6 ||
apo vṛtraṁ vavrivāṁsam parāhan prāvat te vajram pṛthivī sacetāḥ |
prārṇāṁsi samudriyāṇy ainoḥ patir bhavañ chavasā śūra dhṛṣṇo || 7 ||
apo yad adrim puruhūta dardar āvir bhuvat saramā pūrvyaṁ te |
sa no netā vājam ā darṣi bhūriṁ gotrā rujann aṅgirobhir gṛṇānaḥ || 8 ||
acchā kaviṁ nṛmaṇo gā abhiṣṭau svarṣātā maghavan nādhamānam |
ūtibhis tam iṣaṇo dyumnahūtau ni māyāvān abrahmā dasyur arta || 9 ||
ā dasyughnā manasā yāhy astam bhuvat te kutsaḥ sakhye nikāmaḥ |
sve yonau ni ṣadataṁ sarūpā vi vāṁ cikitsad ṛtacid dha nārī || 10 ||
yāsi kutsena saratham avasyus todo vātasya haryor īśānaḥ |
ṛjrā vājaṁ na gadhyaṁ yuyūṣan kavir yad ahan pāryāya bhūṣāt || 11 ||
kutsāya śuṣṇam aśuṣaṁ ni barhīḥ prapitve ahnaḥ kuyavaṁ sahasrā |
sadyo dasyūn pra mṛṇa kutsyena pra sūraś cakraṁ vṛhatād abhīke || 12 ||
tvam piprum mṛgayaṁ śūśuvāṁsam ṛjiśvane vaidathināya randhīḥ |
pañcāśat kṛṣṇā ni vapaḥ sahasrātkaṁ na puro jarimā vi dardaḥ || 13 ||
sūra upāke tanva1ṁ dadhāno vi yat te cety amṛtasya varpaḥ |
mṛgo na hastī taviṣīm uṣāṇaḥ siṁho na bhīma āyudhāni bibhrat || 14 ||
indraṁ kāmā vasūyanto agman svarmīḻhe na savane cakānāḥ |
śravasyavaḥ śaśamānāsa ukthair oko na raṇvā sudṛśīva puṣṭiḥ || 15 ||
tam id va indraṁ suhavaṁ huvema yas tā cakāra naryā purūṇi |
yo māvate jaritre gadhyaṁ cin makṣū vājam bharati spārharādhāḥ || 16 ||
tigmā yad antar aśaniḥ patāti kasmiñ cic chūra muhuke janānām |
ghorā yad arya samṛtir bhavāty adha smā nas tanvo bodhi gopāḥ || 17 ||
bhuvo 'vitā vāmadevasya dhīnām bhuvaḥ sakhāvṛko vājasātau |
tvām anu pramatim ā jaganmoruśaṁso jaritre viśvadha syāḥ || 18 ||
ebhir nṛbhir indra tvāyubhiṣ ṭvā maghavadbhir maghavan viśva ājau |
dyāvo na dyumnair abhi santo aryaḥ kṣapo madema śaradaś ca pūrvīḥ || 19 ||
eved indrāya vṛṣabhāya vṛṣṇe brahmākarma bhṛgavo na ratham |
nū cid yathā naḥ sakhyā viyoṣad asan na ugro 'vitā tanūpāḥ || 20 ||
nū ṣṭuta indra nū gṛṇāna iṣaṁ jaritre nadyo3 na pīpeḥ |
akāri te harivo brahma navyaṁ dhiyā syāma rathyaḥ sadāsāḥ || 21 ||
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).