Hymn to Indra and Brihaspati
Rigveda IV.49 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. The hymn is a short invocation to the paired gods Indra and Brihaspati, inviting them to the soma offering.
1. This dear offering is in your mouth, Indra and Brihaspati — the hymn and the exhilarating drink are recited for you.
2. This soma is poured out for you, Indra and Brihaspati — pleasant, for delight, for drinking.
3. Come to our house, Indra and Brihaspati, and Indra — soma-drinkers, for the drinking of soma.
4. Give us wealth, Indra and Brihaspati — a hundredfold, rich in horses, a thousandfold.
5. Indra and Brihaspati, we call you with songs over the pressed soma, for the drinking of this soma.
6. Drink the soma, Indra and Brihaspati, in the house of the one who offers it — take your pleasure there, at home there.
Translator's note: verse 3's Sanskrit names Indra twice — once in the paired invocation "Indra-and-Brihaspati" and once again on its own ("indraś ca," "and Indra") — an emphasis kept literally here rather than smoothed away.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.49 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.49
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.
idaṁ vām āsye haviḥ priyam indrābṛhaspatī |
uktham madaś ca śasyate || 1 ||
ayaṁ vām pari ṣicyate soma indrābṛhaspatī |
cārur madāya pītaye || 2 ||
ā na indrābṛhaspatī gṛham indraś ca gacchatam |
somapā somapītaye || 3 ||
asme indrābṛhaspatī rayiṁ dhattaṁ śatagvinam |
aśvāvantaṁ sahasriṇam || 4 ||
indrābṛhaspatī vayaṁ sute gīrbhir havāmahe |
asya somasya pītaye || 5 ||
somam indrābṛhaspatī pibataṁ dāśuṣo gṛhe |
mādayethāṁ tadokasā || 6 ||
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).