Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.20 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. May Indra come to us from afar, may he come from nearby — the overpowering one, the mighty one, may he come for our help; the lord of men, mace-armed, with his mightiest companions, the vanquisher, may he come in the clashes, in the battles, against those who seek to fight us.
2. May Indra come to us with his bay steeds, turned toward us, for help and for bounty. May the mace-bearer, the bountiful one, stand by this rich sacrifice of ours in the winning of the prize.
3. Setting this sacrifice of ours before you, Indra, you will win our devotion. Like a gambler staking all for the winning of riches, mace-bearer — through you may we win the contest against the rival.
4. Willing, well-disposed, near us, of the soma now well pressed, O self-powerful one — drink, Indra, of the sweet drink brought forth for you; grow exultant with the ample draught of the plant.
5. He who has cried out with the new seers, like a ripe tree, like a victor with his sickle, like a young man eager for a maiden — I call aloud to Indra, the much-invoked.
6. Indra, who like a mountain is self-strong and lofty, born of old, mighty, for strength — he is the breaker, fearsome like his own massive mace; as one empties a vessel filled with water, so he pours out wealth.
7. He who by his very birth has no one to hold him back, no one to diminish his bounty's gift — pouring forth mightily, powerful, fierce one: give us riches, much-invoked one.
8. You look upon the wealth, the dwelling-place of the peoples, and you are the one who rolls back the pen of the cattle. Eager to aid men, foremost in the clashes, you bring forth an abundant heap of goods.
9. By what power is he, the mightiest, known to do this — the power by which the lofty one acts again and again? Most skilled at clearing away distress for the one who offers, he then grants wealth to the singer.
10. Do not fail us — bring it, give us that; give abundantly to the one who offers, whatever of yours there is to give. In this new gift, in this uttered hymn, we speak out, Indra, praising you.
11. Now praised, Indra, now hymned — swell forth refreshment for the singer, as rivers swell. A new sacred formulation has been made for you, lord of the bay steeds; through our insight may we be charioteers, ever unconquered.
Translator's note: verse 6 compresses several images into a single tight sentence (mountain, mace, poured-out vessel) whose exact connective logic is uncertain in Sanskrit scholarship; the rendering here keeps each image but does not over-specify how they relate. In verse 3, śvaghnī ("gambler," literally "dice-thrower") is rendered as "gambler" for clarity. In verse 5, sṛṇyo na jetā ("like a victor with the sickle") is kept literal rather than resolved into a single smooth image, since the Sanskrit itself strings three comparisons together.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.20 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.20
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 na indro dūrād ā na āsād abhiṣṭikṛd avase yāsad ugraḥ |
ojiṣṭhebhir nṛpatir vajrabāhuḥ saṁge samatsu turvaṇiḥ pṛtanyūn || 1 ||
ā na indro haribhir yātv acchārvācīno 'vase rādhase ca |
tiṣṭhāti vajrī maghavā virapśīmaṁ yajñam anu no vājasātau || 2 ||
imaṁ yajñaṁ tvam asmākam indra puro dadhat saniṣyasi kratuṁ naḥ |
śvaghnīva vajrin sanaye dhanānāṁ tvayā vayam arya ājiṁ jayema || 3 ||
uśann u ṣu ṇaḥ sumanā upāke somasya nu suṣutasya svadhāvaḥ |
pā indra pratibhṛtasya madhvaḥ sam andhasā mamadaḥ pṛṣṭhyena || 4 ||
vi yo rarapśa ṛṣibhir navebhir vṛkṣo na pakvaḥ sṛṇyo na jetā |
maryo na yoṣām abhi manyamāno 'cchā vivakmi puruhūtam indram || 5 ||
girir na yaḥ svatavām̐ ṛṣva indraḥ sanād eva sahase jāta ugraḥ |
ādartā vajraṁ sthaviraṁ na bhīma udneva kośaṁ vasunā nyṛṣṭam || 6 ||
na yasya vartā januṣā nv asti na rādhasa āmarītā maghasya |
udvāvṛṣāṇas taviṣīva ugrāsmabhyaṁ daddhi puruhūta rāyaḥ || 7 ||
īkṣe rāyaḥ kṣayasya carṣaṇīnām uta vrajam apavartāsi gonām |
śikṣānaraḥ samitheṣu prahāvān vasvo rāśim abhinetāsi bhūrim || 8 ||
kayā tac chṛṇve śacyā śaciṣṭho yayā kṛṇoti muhu kā cid ṛṣvaḥ |
puru dāśuṣe vicayiṣṭho aṁho 'thā dadhāti draviṇaṁ jaritre || 9 ||
mā no mardhīr ā bharā daddhi tan naḥ pra dāśuṣe dātave bhūri yat te |
navye deṣṇe śaste asmin ta ukthe pra bravāma vayam indra stuvantaḥ || 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).