Hymn to Agni, the Swift Messenger
Rigveda IV.7 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. This one was first set in place here by the ordainers, the invoking priest most worthy of sacrifice, to be praised at the rites — whom the Apnavānas, the Bhṛgus, made to shine in the wood, wondrous and mighty, for tribe after tribe.
2. O Agni, when will the god's perception of you become steady and unbroken? For mortals have already seized on you as one to be praised among the clans.
3. Seeing him who possesses truth and order, the wise one, as heaven is seen with its stars, the quickener of all rites, in house after house.
4. The swift messenger of Vivasvat, who goes out to all the peoples — the sons of Āyu have carried up his banner, the Bhṛgu-born one, for tribe after tribe.
5. Him they have installed, unbroken, as the wise invoking priest — the joyous one of purifying flame, most worthy of sacrifice, with his seven ritual seats.
6. Him, among the ever-renewing mothers, sought out in the wood, unresting; a wondrous being, set down in hiding, easily found, going wherever there is need of him.
7. When he is drawn out from the plant, from the udder, in the seat of order, the gods take delight. Great Agni, given oblation with homage, ever flies to the sacrifice, ever true to order.
8. Flying, knowing the messenger's tasks of the rite, having taken the measure of both ends, the two world-halves, you go as messenger, ranging wide since ancient times, most knowing of the ascents of heaven.
9. Black is the path you travel; before you goes your light, shining; your moving flame is the one unique thing among wonders. When, unwooed, the plants come to bear the seed within them, then, no sooner born, you become at once the messenger.
10. The strength of the newly born one is seen, when the wind blows on after his flame; he thrusts his sharp tongue among the dry brushwood; with his jaws he splits apart even the toughest food.
11. When he has grown eager on eager food through his own eagerness, young mighty Agni makes himself an eager messenger; consuming, he keeps to the track of the wind; like a racehorse he is urged on, and speeds himself forward.
Translator's note: a few words in this hymn are genuinely obscure and are rendered conservatively. In verse 7, "sasasya... ūdhann" (literally "of the grass/plant... in the udder") is kept close to the image of drawing fire out from its hidden plant-source rather than resolved into a smoother metaphor. In verse 9, "apravītā" ("unwooed/unbidden") is kept literal, describing plants spontaneously bearing the seed of fire. In verse 11, "meḻi" is a rare word of uncertain sense, here taken as "track" or "course" (of the wind); other readings are possible.
Colophon
Rigveda IV.7 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.7
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.
ayam iha prathamo dhāyi dhātṛbhir hotā yajiṣṭho adhvareṣv īḍyaḥ |
yam apnavāno bhṛgavo virurucur vaneṣu citraṁ vibhvaṁ viśe-viśe || 1 ||
agne kadā ta ānuṣag bhuvad devasya cetanam |
adhā hi tvā jagṛbhrire martāso vikṣv īḍyam || 2 ||
ṛtāvānaṁ vicetasam paśyanto dyām iva stṛbhiḥ |
viśveṣām adhvarāṇāṁ haskartāraṁ dame-dame || 3 ||
āśuṁ dūtaṁ vivasvato viśvā yaś carṣaṇīr abhi |
ā jabhruḥ ketum āyavo bhṛgavāṇaṁ viśe-viśe || 4 ||
tam īṁ hotāram ānuṣak cikitvāṁsaṁ ni ṣedire |
raṇvam pāvakaśociṣaṁ yajiṣṭhaṁ sapta dhāmabhiḥ || 5 ||
taṁ śaśvatīṣu mātṛṣu vana ā vītam aśritam |
citraṁ santaṁ guhā hitaṁ suvedaṁ kūcidarthinam || 6 ||
sasasya yad viyutā sasminn ūdhann ṛtasya dhāman raṇayanta devāḥ |
mahām̐ agnir namasā rātahavyo ver adhvarāya sadam id ṛtāvā || 7 ||
ver adhvarasya dūtyāni vidvān ubhe antā rodasī saṁcikitvān |
dūta īyase pradiva urāṇo viduṣṭaro diva ārodhanāni || 8 ||
kṛṣṇaṁ ta ema ruśataḥ puro bhāś cariṣṇv a1rcir vapuṣām id ekam |
yad apravītā dadhate ha garbhaṁ sadyaś cij jāto bhavasīd u dūtaḥ || 9 ||
sadyo jātasya dadṛśānam ojo yad asya vāto anuvāti śociḥ |
vṛṇakti tigmām ataseṣu jihvāṁ sthirā cid annā dayate vi jambhaiḥ || 10 ||
tṛṣu yad annā tṛṣuṇā vavakṣa tṛṣuṁ dūtaṁ kṛṇute yahvo agniḥ |
vātasya meḻiṁ sacate nijūrvann āśuṁ na vājayate hinve arvā || 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).