Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.2 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. The young mother carries the hidden boy in secret; she does not give him to the father. People do not see his unfading face before them, placed as he is in the fire-drill.
2. Who is this boy you carry, young woman, still unformed? The mighty one gave birth to him. For many autumns the embryo grew; I saw him born, when the mother bore him.
3. From afar, in the field, I saw him — golden-toothed, bright-colored, wielding weapons, granting to him unmixed immortality. What can those without Indra, without hymns, do to me?
4. I saw him from the field, moving apart, shining greatly, like a fine herd. They could not seize him, for he had just been born; only the young women grow gray.
5. Who has separated my dear one from the cows — those who had not even a stranger for a herdsman? Let those who seized him release him; may he, knowing the way, drive the cattle back to us.
6. The malicious ones hid among mortals him who is king of good things, the dwelling-place of the people. May the prayers of Atri release him; let the accusers themselves become accused.
7. Even Śunaḥśepa, bound to the sacrificial post worth a thousand, you released, for he had completed his rite. So loosen our bonds too, Agni; wise Hotar, sit down here and do it.
8. Angry, you went away from me; the guardian of the gods' ordinances spoke to me. Indra, knowing, pointed you out to me; instructed by that, Agni, I have come.
9. Agni shines out with his great light; by his greatness he makes all things manifest. He overcomes the godless, evil-minded deceptions; he sharpens his horns to strike down the demon.
10. And let Agni's roaring flames, sharp-weaponed, stand in heaven to slay the demon. Even in his fury his flashes break out; the godless assaults cannot hold him back.
11. O mighty-born one, I, the inspired poet, skillful, have fashioned this praise-hymn to you like a chariot. If indeed, Agni, god, you take delight in it, may we win through it the sun-filled rewards.
12. The thick-necked bull, grown strong, the lord without enemies, gathers wealth together. So the immortals have spoken of this Agni: may he grant shelter to the man with the sacrificial grass, may he grant shelter to the man with the oblation.
Translator's note: this hymn is a riddle-hymn (brahmodya) built on the myth of Agni hidden at his mysterious birth and later found and freed, paralleled with the freeing of Śunaḥśepa (v. 7) and credited to the intercession of the sage Atri (v. 6). Several images — the "young mother" concealing the child in the kindling-wood, the boy "moving apart" like a herd, the cattle taken by those with "no herdsman" — are deliberately oblique in the Sanskrit itself; the translation keeps that obliqueness rather than resolving it into plain narrative.
Colophon
Rigveda V.2 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.2
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.
kumāram mātā yuvatiḥ samubdhaṁ guhā bibharti na dadāti pitre |
anīkam asya na minaj janāsaḥ puraḥ paśyanti nihitam aratau || 1 ||
kam etaṁ tvaṁ yuvate kumāram peṣī bibharṣi mahiṣī jajāna |
pūrvīr hi garbhaḥ śarado vavardhāpaśyaṁ jātaṁ yad asūta mātā || 2 ||
hiraṇyadantaṁ śucivarṇam ārāt kṣetrād apaśyam āyudhā mimānam |
dadāno asmā amṛtaṁ vipṛkvat kim mām anindrāḥ kṛṇavann anukthāḥ || 3 ||
kṣetrād apaśyaṁ sanutaś carantaṁ sumad yūthaṁ na puru śobhamānam |
na tā agṛbhrann ajaniṣṭa hi ṣaḥ paliknīr id yuvatayo bhavanti || 4 ||
ke me maryakaṁ vi yavanta gobhir na yeṣāṁ gopā araṇaś cid āsa |
ya īṁ jagṛbhur ava te sṛjantv ājāti paśva upa naś cikitvān || 5 ||
vasāṁ rājānaṁ vasatiṁ janānām arātayo ni dadhur martyeṣu |
brahmāṇy atrer ava taṁ sṛjantu ninditāro nindyāso bhavantu || 6 ||
śunaś cic chepaṁ niditaṁ sahasrād yūpād amuñco aśamiṣṭa hi ṣaḥ |
evāsmad agne vi mumugdhi pāśān hotaś cikitva iha tū niṣadya || 7 ||
hṛṇīyamāno apa hi mad aiyeḥ pra me devānāṁ vratapā uvāca |
indro vidvām̐ anu hi tvā cacakṣa tenāham agne anuśiṣṭa āgām || 8 ||
vi jyotiṣā bṛhatā bhāty agnir āvir viśvāni kṛṇute mahitvā |
prādevīr māyāḥ sahate durevāḥ śiśīte śṛṅge rakṣase vinikṣe || 9 ||
uta svānāso divi ṣantv agnes tigmāyudhā rakṣase hantavā u |
made cid asya pra rujanti bhāmā na varante paribādho adevīḥ || 10 ||
etaṁ te stomaṁ tuvijāta vipro rathaṁ na dhīraḥ svapā atakṣam |
yadīd agne prati tvaṁ deva haryāḥ svarvatīr apa enā jayema || 11 ||
tuvigrīvo vṛṣabho vāvṛdhāno 'śatrv a1ryaḥ sam ajāti vedaḥ |
itīmam agnim amṛtā avocan barhiṣmate manave śarma yaṁsad dhaviṣmate manave śarma yaṁsat || 12 ||
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).