Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.25 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. Sing forth to Agni the god, for his help — he is our good and wealthy one. May he give, o son of the sages: true to the cosmic order, he will carry us safely past our enemies.
2. He is indeed the true one, whom even the ancient gods themselves once kindled — the priest with the pleasing tongue, blazing bright with beautiful flames.
3. With the broadest insight and the best goodwill, O Agni, shine riches upon us — with our well-wrought hymns, O one worth choosing.
4. Agni reigns among the gods; Agni enters among mortals. Agni is our carrier of offerings — honor Agni with your devotions.
5. Agni gives to the one who offers a son most famed, richest in sacred power, highest, unconquered — a lord whose fame resounds.
6. Agni gives a true chief who conquers in battle with his men. Agni gives a swift racehorse, a victor never defeated.
7. Sing to Agni the mightiest hymn, the great one, O widely-shining one — from you wealth flows as from a mighty river, from you the rewards spring forth.
8. Your radiant flames roar loud, like the pressing-stone's cry; and your thunder is like a sound that has arisen of itself from heaven.
9. Thus we, desiring wealth, have praised Agni the victorious. May he, of good power, carry us across all our enemies, like a boat.
Translator's note: in verse 7, "mahiṣīva" (literally "like a mahiṣī") is ambiguous — it can mean "like a great river" or "like a mighty buffalo-cow" as an image of abundance; rendered here conservatively as "a mighty river." In verse 8, "grāveva" compares Agni's flames to the loud sound of the soma-pressing stone, an image now unfamiliar to most readers but kept literal rather than replaced.
Colophon
Rigveda V.25 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.25
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.
acchā vo agnim avase devaṁ gāsi sa no vasuḥ |
rāsat putra ṛṣūṇām ṛtāvā parṣati dviṣaḥ || 1 ||
sa hi satyo yam pūrve cid devāsaś cid yam īdhire |
hotāram mandrajihvam it sudītibhir vibhāvasum || 2 ||
sa no dhītī variṣṭhayā śreṣṭhayā ca sumatyā |
agne rāyo didīhi naḥ suvṛktibhir vareṇya || 3 ||
agnir deveṣu rājaty agnir marteṣv āviśan |
agnir no havyavāhano 'gniṁ dhībhiḥ saparyata || 4 ||
agnis tuviśravastamaṁ tuvibrahmāṇam uttamam |
atūrtaṁ śrāvayatpatim putraṁ dadāti dāśuṣe || 5 ||
agnir dadāti satpatiṁ sāsāha yo yudhā nṛbhiḥ |
agnir atyaṁ raghuṣyadaṁ jetāram aparājitam || 6 ||
yad vāhiṣṭhaṁ tad agnaye bṛhad arca vibhāvaso |
mahiṣīva tvad rayis tvad vājā ud īrate || 7 ||
tava dyumanto arcayo grāvevocyate bṛhat |
uto te tanyatur yathā svāno arta tmanā divaḥ || 8 ||
evām̐ agniṁ vasūyavaḥ sahasānaṁ vavandima |
sa no viśvā ati dviṣaḥ parṣan nāveva sukratuḥ || 9 ||
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).