Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.19 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. Thus, Indra, thunderbolt-wielder — here all the gods, the helpers easily called on, and the two great world-halves, grown, lofty, choose you alone for the slaying of Vṛtra.
2. The gods sent forth [their praise], like elders singing; you became sovereign, Indra, of true origin. You slew the serpent lying coiled about the flood; you carved out its channels, all-nourishing.
3. Insatiable, sprawling, never waking, never conscious, lying asleep — Indra tore apart with the thunderbolt the jointless serpent stretched out facing the seven slopes.
4. With his might Indra shook the ground to its foundation, as wind shakes water, with his forceful powers; eager, he broke open the firm-set places; he split apart the peaks of the mountains.
5. [The waters] ran forth like women running to their child; like chariots they went forth together with the thundering rock-masses. You, released, satisfied them, pressing forth their waves; you, Indra, set the pent-up rivers flowing.
6. You made the great, all-nourishing river flow for Turvīti and Vayya, streaming forth. The restrained flood moved, trembling, before your reverence; you made the rivers easy to cross, Indra.
7. He made the rushing, winding, dissolving young rivers swell, they who know the cosmic order; he filled the deserts and the thirsting plains; Indra milked the barren ones, the mistresses of wondrous deeds.
8. Praised through many dawns and autumns, having slain Vṛtra, he released the rivers; he cut through the hemmed-in, obstructed streams so they could flow — Indra made the streams flow out over the earth.
9. With the ants, lord of bay steeds, you brought the unmarried woman's untasted son out from his dwelling. The blind one saw, once he seized the serpent; the pot-splitter came forth; the joints came together.
10. The poet, though unknowing, declares to the knowing your former deeds — however you performed your manly, self-praised, virile acts of power, O king.
11. Now praised, Indra, now hymned, give increase to your singer, as the rivers swell. A new hymn of praise has been made for you, lord of bay steeds; may we, through insight, always be the charioteers who prevail.
Translator's note: Verses 2, 7, and 9 involve obscure, elliptical mythological allusions (the "ants" legend of verse 9 in particular refers to a Vṛtra-episode not spelled out elsewhere in this hymn) where the Sanskrit omits words a modern reader would expect; these have been rendered as literally and conservatively as possible rather than smoothed into confident paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.19 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.19
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.
evā tvām indra vajrinn atra viśve devāsaḥ suhavāsa ūmāḥ |
mahām ubhe rodasī vṛddham ṛṣvaṁ nir ekam id vṛṇate vṛtrahatye || 1 ||
avāsṛjanta jivrayo na devā bhuvaḥ samrāḻ indra satyayoniḥ |
ahann ahim pariśayānam arṇaḥ pra vartanīr arado viśvadhenāḥ || 2 ||
atṛpṇuvantaṁ viyatam abudhyam abudhyamānaṁ suṣupāṇam indra |
sapta prati pravata āśayānam ahiṁ vajreṇa vi riṇā aparvan || 3 ||
akṣodayac chavasā kṣāma budhnaṁ vār ṇa vātas taviṣībhir indraḥ |
dṛḻhāny aubhnād uśamāna ojo 'vābhinat kakubhaḥ parvatānām || 4 ||
abhi pra dadrur janayo na garbhaṁ rathā iva pra yayuḥ sākam adrayaḥ |
atarpayo visṛta ubja ūrmīn tvaṁ vṛtām̐ ariṇā indra sindhūn || 5 ||
tvam mahīm avaniṁ viśvadhenāṁ turvītaye vayyāya kṣarantīm |
aramayo namasaijad arṇaḥ sutaraṇām̐ akṛṇor indra sindhūn || 6 ||
prāgruvo nabhanvo3 na vakvā dhvasrā apinvad yuvatīr ṛtajñāḥ |
dhanvāny ajrām̐ apṛṇak tṛṣāṇām̐ adhog indraḥ staryo3 daṁsupatnīḥ || 7 ||
pūrvīr uṣasaḥ śaradaś ca gūrtā vṛtraṁ jaghanvām̐ asṛjad vi sindhūn |
pariṣṭhitā atṛṇad badbadhānāḥ sīrā indraḥ sravitave pṛthivyā || 8 ||
vamrībhiḥ putram agruvo adānaṁ niveśanād dhariva ā jabhartha |
vy a1ndho akhyad ahim ādadāno nir bhūd ukhacchit sam aranta parva || 9 ||
pra te pūrvāṇi karaṇāni viprāvidvām̐ āha viduṣe karāṁsi |
yathā-yathā vṛṣṇyāni svagūrtāpāṁsi rājan naryāviveṣīḥ || 10 ||
nū ṣṭuta indra nū gṛṇāna iṣaṁ jaritre nadyo3 na pīpeḥ |
akāri te harivo brahma navyaṁ dhiyā syāma rathyaḥ sadāsāḥ || 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).