Hymn to Agni
Rigveda IV.3 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. Prepare for yourselves Agni, king of the sacrifice, the fierce one, the priest, the true sacrificer of the two world-halves — golden in form — for your protection, before the thunder strikes out of carelessness.
2. This is the seat we have made for you, to which we come eager and well-adorned, like a wife to her husband. Sit down here, turned toward us, wrapped about — these fires face you, O skillful one.
3. O sage, proclaim the hymn, the praise, to the god who listens, the undeceived one, who watches over men, the gracious one, the immortal — as the pressing-stone presses the soma for the sweet-presser whom I invoke.
4. Take notice, Agni, knower of the sacred order, well-disposed one, of this rite performed by our labor. When will your hymns be sung at the shared feast? When will there be friendship in your house?
5. How, Agni, do you speak of that to Varuṇa? How do you report our fault to Dyaus — what is our offense? What do you say to Mitra, to the bountiful one, to Earth? What to Aryaman? What to Bhaga?
6. What do you say, growing strong among the sacred hearths, Agni? What to Vāta, the strongly-blowing, the splendid mover? What to the encompasser, to the Nāsatyas, to Earth? What, Agni, to Rudra, slayer of men?
7. How do you speak to great Pūṣan, bearer of nourishment? What to Rudra, the bountiful, the giver of oblations? What word do you say, Agni, to wide-striding Viṣṇu, to Śarva, to lofty Bṛhatī?
8. How to the true-ordered host of the Maruts? How, when questioned, to the great sun? You answer rightly to Aditi, to the mighty one — wise knower of heaven, Jātavedas.
9. By the sacred order I invoke here the fixed order, together with the cow's raw milk and her sweet, ripened milk, Agni. Though she is dark, this one has swelled with bright nourishment, with kindred milk.
10. By the sacred order the bull, anointed, the male Agni, moved steadily with the back-flowing milk, bestowing strength; the bull has milked the bright milk from the dappled udder.
11. By the sacred order, splitting the rock, the Aṅgirases roared together for the cows. The men sat joyfully around the dawn; light became visible when Agni was born.
12. By the sacred order, Agni, the divine, immortal, undiminished waters, with their sweet floods, rush on continually to flow, like a racehorse driven on in its course.
13. May we never, through crookedness, harm anyone's sacred due; may we never diminish the cattle of a neighbor or a kinsman. Do not pursue, Agni, the debt of a dishonest brother; may we never share in the cunning of a deceitful friend.
14. Protect us, Agni, with your protections, ever guarding us, bountiful one, being gracious. Strike back, break open the tight distress; slay the demon, however greatly it has grown.
15. With these songs be well-disposed, Agni; touch these prizes with our hymns, hero. And take pleasure in the sacred formulas, Aṅgiras; may your praise, cherished by the gods, resound in full.
16. All these guiding songs, these hidden words, I have proclaimed to you, Agni, knowing ordainer — these utterances, these poetic works, I, the inspired one, have recited to the seer with thoughts and hymns.
Translator's note: Verses 5–8 name a chain of gods (Varuṇa, Dyaus, Mitra, Pṛthivī, Aryaman, Bhaga, Vāta, the Nāsatyas, Rudra, Pūṣan, Viṣṇu, the Maruts, Sūrya, Aditi) whom Agni, as messenger, is asked what he reports about the worshippers — some epithets (e.g. "the encompasser," "Śarva," "Bṛhatī") are kept close to the Sanskrit rather than resolved into a single certain identity. Verses 9–12 are a riddling passage on ṛta ("sacred order") figured as milk, cows, and flowing water; the imagery is kept literal rather than smoothed into paraphrase.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.3 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda IV.3
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 vo rājānam adhvarasya rudraṁ hotāraṁ satyayajaṁ rodasyoḥ |
agnim purā tanayitnor acittād dhiraṇyarūpam avase kṛṇudhvam || 1 ||
ayaṁ yoniś cakṛmā yaṁ vayaṁ te jāyeva patya uśatī suvāsāḥ |
arvācīnaḥ parivīto ni ṣīdemā u te svapāka pratīcīḥ || 2 ||
āśṛṇvate adṛpitāya manma nṛcakṣase sumṛḻīkāya vedhaḥ |
devāya śastim amṛtāya śaṁsa grāveva sotā madhuṣud yam īḻe || 3 ||
tvaṁ cin naḥ śamyā agne asyā ṛtasya bodhy ṛtacit svādhīḥ |
kadā ta ukthā sadhamādyāni kadā bhavanti sakhyā gṛhe te || 4 ||
kathā ha tad varuṇāya tvam agne kathā dive garhase kan na āgaḥ |
kathā mitrāya mīḻhuṣe pṛthivyai bravaḥ kad aryamṇe kad bhagāya || 5 ||
kad dhiṣṇyāsu vṛdhasāno agne kad vātāya pratavase śubhaṁye |
parijmane nāsatyāya kṣe bravaḥ kad agne rudrāya nṛghne || 6 ||
kathā mahe puṣṭimbharāya pūṣṇe kad rudrāya sumakhāya havirde |
kad viṣṇava urugāyāya reto bravaḥ kad agne śarave bṛhatyai || 7 ||
kathā śardhāya marutām ṛtāya kathā sūre bṛhate pṛcchyamānaḥ |
prati bravo 'ditaye turāya sādhā divo jātavedaś cikitvān || 8 ||
ṛtena ṛtaṁ niyatam īḻa ā gor āmā sacā madhumat pakvam agne |
kṛṣṇā satī ruśatā dhāsinaiṣā jāmaryeṇa payasā pīpāya || 9 ||
ṛtena hi ṣmā vṛṣabhaś cid aktaḥ pumām̐ agniḥ payasā pṛṣṭhyena |
aspandamāno acarad vayodhā vṛṣā śukraṁ duduhe pṛśnir ūdhaḥ || 10 ||
ṛtenādriṁ vy asan bhidantaḥ sam aṅgiraso navanta gobhiḥ |
śunaṁ naraḥ pari ṣadann uṣāsam āviḥ svar abhavaj jāte agnau || 11 ||
ṛtena devīr amṛtā amṛktā arṇobhir āpo madhumadbhir agne |
vājī na sargeṣu prastubhānaḥ pra sadam it sravitave dadhanyuḥ || 12 ||
mā kasya yakṣaṁ sadam id dhuro gā mā veśasya praminato māpeḥ |
mā bhrātur agne anṛjor ṛṇaṁ ver mā sakhyur dakṣaṁ ripor bhujema || 13 ||
rakṣā ṇo agne tava rakṣaṇebhī rārakṣāṇaḥ sumakha prīṇānaḥ |
prati ṣphura vi ruja vīḍv aṁho jahi rakṣo mahi cid vāvṛdhānam || 14 ||
ebhir bhava sumanā agne arkair imān spṛśa manmabhiḥ śūra vājān |
uta brahmāṇy aṅgiro juṣasva saṁ te śastir devavātā jareta || 15 ||
etā viśvā viduṣe tubhyaṁ vedho nīthāny agne niṇyā vacāṁsi |
nivacanā kavaye kāvyāny aśaṁsiṣam matibhir vipra ukthaiḥ || 16 ||
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).