Hymn to Agni
Rigveda V.26 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, purifier, with your radiance and your delightful tongue, O god — bring the gods here, and make offering to them.
2. We beg you, ghee-anointed one, brilliant-rayed one who sees heaven: bring the gods here for the feast.
3. We kindle you, seer, whose oblation is a feast, shining — you, Agni, great one, at the rite.
4. O Agni, come here with all the gods, for the giving of the offering. We choose you as our hotar-priest.
5. O Agni, bring good vigor to the sacrificer who presses the soma. Sit down with the gods on the sacred grass.
6. Kindled, winner of a thousand, Agni, you make the sacred ordinances flourish — the praiseworthy messenger of the gods.
7. Set Agni in his place — Jātavedas, who carries the offering, the youngest, the divine priest.
8. Let the sacrifice go forth today, in order, most encompassing of the gods. Spread the sacred grass for them to sit.
9. Let the Maruts, the two Aśvins, Mitra, and Varuṇa sit down here, and the gods, with their whole host.
Translator's note: "yaviṣṭhyam" (v. 7) is rendered "the youngest," the standard epithet for Agni among the gods. "Devavyacastamaḥ" (v. 8), literally "most widely reaching among/toward the gods," is rendered "most encompassing of the gods."
Colophon
Rigveda V.26 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.26
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.
agne pāvaka rociṣā mandrayā deva jihvayā |
ā devān vakṣi yakṣi ca || 1 ||
taṁ tvā ghṛtasnav īmahe citrabhāno svardṛśam |
devām̐ ā vītaye vaha || 2 ||
vītihotraṁ tvā kave dyumantaṁ sam idhīmahi |
agne bṛhantam adhvare || 3 ||
agne viśvebhir ā gahi devebhir havyadātaye |
hotāraṁ tvā vṛṇīmahe || 4 ||
yajamānāya sunvata āgne suvīryaṁ vaha |
devair ā satsi barhiṣi || 5 ||
samidhānaḥ sahasrajid agne dharmāṇi puṣyasi |
devānāṁ dūta ukthyaḥ || 6 ||
ny a1gniṁ jātavedasaṁ hotravāhaṁ yaviṣṭhyam |
dadhātā devam ṛtvijam || 7 ||
pra yajña etv ānuṣag adyā devavyacastamaḥ |
stṛṇīta barhir āsade || 8 ||
edam maruto aśvinā mitraḥ sīdantu varuṇaḥ |
devāsaḥ sarvayā viśā || 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).