Hymn to Indra
Rigveda V.29 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 three heavenly luminous realms — Aryaman held them, three, in the sacred rite of man. The Maruts of pure strength sing to you; you, Indra, are their wise seer.
2. When the Maruts sang to Indra, grown exhilarated, who had drunk of the pressed soma, he took up the vajra and struck the serpent; he set the mighty young waters free to flow.
3. And the Maruts, chanting the sacred word, are mine; let Indra drink of this well-pressed soma. By that offering he found the cows for man; having drunk it, Indra slew the serpent.
4. Then he propped the two world-halves wider apart; wrapping himself even to strike terror, he made himself like a wild beast. Indra, the devourer, struck down the hissing dānava who breathed against him.
5. Then, Maghavan, by your power, all the gods granted you the soma-drink — when you made the flying tawny mares of Sūrya, who ran in front, fall behind, for Etaśa.
6. When Maghavan, with one stroke of the vajra, cleft all at once the serpent's ninety-nine coils, the Maruts sang to Indra in their gathering place; with triṣṭubh speech he pressed against the sky.
7. As a friend for his friend, Agni quickly cooked, by Indra's power, three hundred buffaloes; Indra drank together the three lakes of man's pressed soma, for the slaying of Vṛtra.
8. When he ate three hundred buffaloes in a month, and Maghavan drank the three lakes of soma, all the gods cried out as at a contest — a tribute to Indra, when he slew the serpent.
9. When Uśanā came with mighty racing horses to your dwelling, Indra — winning there, you rode in the same chariot; together with Kutsa, and with the gods, you struck down Śuṣṇa.
10. You tore off one wheel of Sūrya's chariot and drove it forward; the other you made into open passage for Kutsa's journey. You crushed the mouthless Dasyus with your weapon; the ill-speaking ones you shut up in their own dwelling.
11. The praise-songs of Gaurivīti strengthened you; you subdued Pipru for Ṛjiśvan, for Vaidathina. Ṛjiśvan made you his own for friendship, cooking his dishes; you drank his soma.
12. The Navagvas, having pressed the soma, the Daśagvas, praise Indra with their hymns; even the cow-pen, covered and shut fast, those laboring men pried open.
13. How shall I, knowing them, recount all your heroic deeds, Maghavan, which you have done? And whatever new deeds you will yet do, most mighty one, let us proclaim them in the sacred gatherings.
14. Having done all these many deeds, Indra, unmatched from birth in heroic strength — whatever else, vajra-bearer, you will boldly do, there is no one who can turn back that might of yours.
15. Indra, take pleasure in the sacred formulations being made, the new ones we have fashioned for you, most mighty one — fair and well-wrought like garments, wealth-seeking; like a skilled craftsman I have shaped them, as one shapes a chariot.
Translator's note: verse 1's syntax around "trī...trī rocanā" and Aryaman's role is compressed and elliptical in the Sanskrit; the rendering above keeps the three-fold image without resolving exactly how Aryaman relates to the three luminous realms. Proper names in verses 9–11 (Uśanā/Kavya Uśanas, Kutsa, Śuṣṇa, Gaurivīti, Ṛjiśvan, Vaidathina, Pipru) are kept untranslated as in the source; they refer to figures and episodes from other Rigvedic myths of Indra.
Colophon
Rigveda V.29 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda V.29
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.
try aryamā manuṣo devatātā trī rocanā divyā dhārayanta |
arcanti tvā marutaḥ pūtadakṣās tvam eṣām ṛṣir indrāsi dhīraḥ || 1 ||
anu yad īm maruto mandasānam ārcann indram papivāṁsaṁ sutasya |
ādatta vajram abhi yad ahiṁ hann apo yahvīr asṛjat sartavā u || 2 ||
uta brahmāṇo maruto me asyendraḥ somasya suṣutasya peyāḥ |
tad dhi havyam manuṣe gā avindad ahann ahim papivām̐ indro asya || 3 ||
ād rodasī vitaraṁ vi ṣkabhāyat saṁvivyānaś cid bhiyase mṛgaṁ kaḥ |
jigartim indro apajargurāṇaḥ prati śvasantam ava dānavaṁ han || 4 ||
adha kratvā maghavan tubhyaṁ devā anu viśve adaduḥ somapeyam |
yat sūryasya haritaḥ patantīḥ puraḥ satīr uparā etaśe kaḥ || 5 ||
nava yad asya navatiṁ ca bhogān sākaṁ vajreṇa maghavā vivṛścat |
arcantīndram marutaḥ sadhasthe traiṣṭubhena vacasā bādhata dyām || 6 ||
sakhā sakhye apacat tūyam agnir asya kratvā mahiṣā trī śatāni |
trī sākam indro manuṣaḥ sarāṁsi sutam pibad vṛtrahatyāya somam || 7 ||
trī yac chatā mahiṣāṇām agho mās trī sarāṁsi maghavā somyāpāḥ |
kāraṁ na viśve ahvanta devā bharam indrāya yad ahiṁ jaghāna || 8 ||
uśanā yat sahasyai3r ayātaṁ gṛham indra jūjuvānebhir aśvaiḥ |
vanvāno atra sarathaṁ yayātha kutsena devair avanor ha śuṣṇam || 9 ||
prānyac cakram avṛhaḥ sūryasya kutsāyānyad varivo yātave 'kaḥ |
anāso dasyūm̐r amṛṇo vadhena ni duryoṇa āvṛṇaṅ mṛdhravācaḥ || 10 ||
stomāsas tvā gaurivīter avardhann arandhayo vaidathināya piprum |
ā tvām ṛjiśvā sakhyāya cakre pacan paktīr apibaḥ somam asya || 11 ||
navagvāsaḥ sutasomāsa indraṁ daśagvāso abhy arcanty arkaiḥ |
gavyaṁ cid ūrvam apidhānavantaṁ taṁ cin naraḥ śaśamānā apa vran || 12 ||
katho nu te pari carāṇi vidvān vīryā maghavan yā cakartha |
yā co nu navyā kṛṇavaḥ śaviṣṭha pred u tā te vidatheṣu bravāma || 13 ||
etā viśvā cakṛvām̐ indra bhūry aparīto januṣā vīryeṇa |
yā cin nu vajrin kṛṇavo dadhṛṣvān na te vartā taviṣyā asti tasyāḥ || 14 ||
indra brahma kriyamāṇā juṣasva yā te śaviṣṭha navyā akarma |
vastreva bhadrā sukṛtā vasūyū rathaṁ na dhīraḥ svapā atakṣam || 15 ||
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).