Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.10 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 5 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. O Agni, unassailable one, bring us the mightiest splendor. Grant us, with abundant wealth, a path toward strength.
2. You, Agni, wondrous one, by your power, by the bounty of your skill — lordly power has mounted in you, made worthy of worship like Mitra.
3. Agni, increase for us the household and the prosperity of these men — the patrons who through hymns of praise have reached your gifts.
4. O bright Agni, those who adorn your praise-songs with gifts of horses — mighty men in their might, whose great fame of itself is known even from heaven.
5. Those blazing flames of yours, Agni, go forth boldly, like roaming flashes of lightning, roaring like a chariot racing for the prize.
6. Now, Agni, come for our help and for your giving, even when we are hard-pressed, so that our patrons may pass safely through every quarter.
7. You, our Agni, O Aṅgiras, praised and being extolled, bring us — O priest — abundant wealth for those who praise you, and for our praise as well; and stand for our strengthening in our battles.
Colophon
Rigveda V.10 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 V.10
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.
agna ojiṣṭham ā bhara dyumnam asmabhyam adhrigo |
pra no rāyā parīṇasā ratsi vājāya panthām || 1 ||
tvaṁ no agne adbhuta kratvā dakṣasya maṁhanā |
tve asurya1m āruhat krāṇā mitro na yajñiyaḥ || 2 ||
tvaṁ no agna eṣāṁ gayam puṣṭiṁ ca vardhaya |
ye stomebhiḥ pra sūrayo naro maghāny ānaśuḥ || 3 ||
ye agne candra te giraḥ śumbhanty aśvarādhasaḥ |
śuṣmebhiḥ śuṣmiṇo naro divaś cid yeṣām bṛhat sukīrtir bodhati tmanā || 4 ||
tava tye agne arcayo bhrājanto yanti dhṛṣṇuyā |
parijmāno na vidyutaḥ svāno ratho na vājayuḥ || 5 ||
nū no agna ūtaye sabādhasaś ca rātaye |
asmākāsaś ca sūrayo viśvā āśās tarīṣaṇi || 6 ||
tvaṁ no agne aṅgiraḥ stutaḥ stavāna ā bhara |
hotar vibhvāsahaṁ rayiṁ stotṛbhyaḥ stavase ca na utaidhi pṛtsu no vṛdhe || 7 ||
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).