Hymn to Indra
Rigveda IV.29 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. Praised one, come to us with your powers, for our help — Indra, drive here with your bay steeds, growing joyful. Past the many pressings of the rival, praised with shouts of acclaim, you whose bounty is true.
2. For indeed he comes, the manly, discerning one, called by the soma-pressers to the sacrifice — he of good horses, who thinks himself fearless, rejoices together with the heroic men who press the soma.
3. Let his ears be made to hear, for the winning of strength, turned toward the favored direction, for delight. The mighty one, pouring himself out for bounty — may Indra grant us a good crossing and freedom from fear.
4. He who goes with help toward the one in distress, toward the inspired singer who calls and praises him thus — yoking his swift steeds to the pole, by the hundred, by the thousand, he whose arm bears the thunderbolt.
5. Aided by you, O bounteous Indra, may we, the inspired ones, be your patrons, praising you — sharing in the riches of Bṛhaddiva, for the giving of the desirable, cattle-rich wealth.
Translator's note: "sutīrtha" (verse 3) literally means "a good ford/crossing" and is rendered here as "a good crossing"; the surrounding image of danger and rescue suggests a river-crossing used figuratively for safe passage. "Bṛhaddiva" (verse 5) is left untranslated as a proper name — it may denote a legendary patron or "him of the great heaven"; the Sanskrit itself does not resolve which.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.29 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.29
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 naḥ stuta upa vājebhir ūtī indra yāhi haribhir mandasānaḥ |
tiraś cid aryaḥ savanā purūṇy āṅgūṣebhir gṛṇānaḥ satyarādhāḥ || 1 ||
ā hi ṣmā yāti naryaś cikitvān hūyamānaḥ sotṛbhir upa yajñam |
svaśvo yo abhīrur manyamānaḥ suṣvāṇebhir madati saṁ ha vīraiḥ || 2 ||
śrāvayed asya karṇā vājayadhyai juṣṭām anu pra diśam mandayadhyai |
udvāvṛṣāṇo rādhase tuviṣmān karan na indraḥ sutīrthābhayaṁ ca || 3 ||
acchā yo gantā nādhamānam ūtī itthā vipraṁ havamānaṁ gṛṇantam |
upa tmani dadhāno dhury ā3śūn sahasrāṇi śatāni vajrabāhuḥ || 4 ||
tvotāso maghavann indra viprā vayaṁ te syāma sūrayo gṛṇantaḥ |
bhejānāso bṛhaddivasya rāya ākāyyasya dāvane purukṣoḥ || 5 ||
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).