Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.24 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. What fine praise might turn Indra, son of might, our way, toward giving? For the hero gives goods to the one who praises him — he is the lord of hidden treasures for us, o people.
2. He is to be called on in the slaying of Vṛtra, he is to be praised, he, well-lauded Indra, true in his bounty. He, the bountiful one, on his journey grants freedom to the mortal who prays and presses soma for him.
3. Him alone the men call on in the clash of battle, having given up their bodies, they make him their shelter — when both sides go out to mutual sacrifice of themselves, the men, in the winning of children and offspring.
4. The settled peoples act with resolve in the mustering, fierce and impetuous against one another, in the winning of the flood of spoil. When the warring clans have clashed together, then indeed some call on Indra in the encounter.
5. Then indeed some worship Indra's power; then indeed the cooking would yield up the rice-cake; then indeed the soma would set apart those who do not press it; then indeed he delights to be worshipped as the bull.
6. He makes room for the one who, in this way, presses soma for eager Indra. With mind turned wholly and attentively toward him — that one he makes his companion in battles.
7. Whoever presses soma for Indra today, cooks the cooked offerings, and roasts the grain, delighting in answer to the praises of the devoted one — in him Indra places his bull-like force.
8. When the impetuous one looked over the gathered battle, when he beheld the long contest of the rival lord — his wife cried out toward the bull, sharpened in the dwelling by the soma-pressers.
9. For a greater price he went for less; unsold, I would go again for what I did not desire. He did not leave the greater for the lesser; the poor, by their skill, milk out the increase.
10. Who will buy this Indra of mine with ten milk-cows — once he has smashed the Vṛtras, let him give him back to me again?
11. Now praised, Indra, now lauded, swell nourishment for the singer, as rivers swell their streams. A new hymn has been made for you, lord of the bay horses; may we, through our thought, be charioteers who are ever victorious.
Translator's note: Verses 9–10 are a well-known crux — a riddle cast in the language of buying and selling (a cow-price, a "sale" and "resale" of Indra himself) whose precise referent is debated among scholars. The Sanskrit is rendered here conservatively, word for word, rather than resolved into a confident paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.24 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.24
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.
kā suṣṭutiḥ śavasaḥ sūnum indram arvācīnaṁ rādhasa ā vavartat |
dadir hi vīro gṛṇate vasūni sa gopatir niṣṣidhāṁ no janāsaḥ || 1 ||
sa vṛtrahatye havyaḥ sa īḍyaḥ sa suṣṭuta indraḥ satyarādhāḥ |
sa yāmann ā maghavā martyāya brahmaṇyate suṣvaye varivo dhāt || 2 ||
tam in naro vi hvayante samīke ririkvāṁsas tanvaḥ kṛṇvata trām |
mitho yat tyāgam ubhayāso agman naras tokasya tanayasya sātau || 3 ||
kratūyanti kṣitayo yoga ugrāśuṣāṇāso mitho arṇasātau |
saṁ yad viśo 'vavṛtranta yudhmā ād in nema indrayante abhīke || 4 ||
ād id dha nema indriyaṁ yajanta ād it paktiḥ puroḻāśaṁ riricyāt |
ād it somo vi papṛcyād asuṣvīn ād ij jujoṣa vṛṣabhaṁ yajadhyai || 5 ||
kṛṇoty asmai varivo ya itthendrāya somam uśate sunoti |
sadhrīcīnena manasāvivenan tam it sakhāyaṁ kṛṇute samatsu || 6 ||
ya indrāya sunavat somam adya pacāt paktīr uta bhṛjjāti dhānāḥ |
prati manāyor ucathāni haryan tasmin dadhad vṛṣaṇaṁ śuṣmam indraḥ || 7 ||
yadā samaryaṁ vy aced ṛghāvā dīrghaṁ yad ājim abhy akhyad aryaḥ |
acikradad vṛṣaṇam patny acchā duroṇa ā niśitaṁ somasudbhiḥ || 8 ||
bhūyasā vasnam acarat kanīyo 'vikrīto akāniṣam punar yan |
sa bhūyasā kanīyo nārirecīd dīnā dakṣā vi duhanti pra vāṇam || 9 ||
ka imaṁ daśabhir mamendraṁ krīṇāti dhenubhiḥ |
yadā vṛtrāṇi jaṅghanad athainam me punar dadat || 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).