Hymn to Indra
Rigveda V.30 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. Where is that hero? Who has seen Indra moving in his easy-riding chariot behind his two bay steeds? He, the mace-bearer, seeking with wealth the one who has pressed the soma, goes as guest to that dwelling, the much-invoked one, with his help.
2. I proclaimed his track where it lay hidden, seeking to follow the trail of the mighty one who conceals it. I asked others, and they told me: may we, once awakened, attain Indra.
3. Now, at the soma-pressing, let us proclaim your deeds, O Indra, those that have pleased us. Let the one who does not know learn of them, and let the one who knows listen — this bounteous one rides forth with his whole host.
4. As soon as you were born, Indra, you made your mind firm; alone you go to battle even against the many. By your might, O radiant one, you split open the very rock and found the pen of the ruddy cows.
5. When you were born, far off in the farthest distance, bearing your renowned name in that remote place — even then the gods feared you, Indra. He conquered all the waters whose lord was the Dāsa.
6. For you indeed these kindly Maruts chant their song and press the soma-stalk. Indra, by his own powers of magic, overcame the magic-wielding serpent as it lay coiled over the waters.
7. Scattering the scorners from birth, granting his gift, he slew, O bounteous one, delighting in the prize of cattle — then he rolled away the head of the Dāsa Namuci, seeking to open a path for Manu.
8. For you made me your ally, Indra, when you wrenched off the head of the Dāsa Namuci — like a resounding stone spinning as it turned, you set the two world-halves rolling like two wheels for the Maruts.
9. For the Dāsa made women his weapons — "what can his powerless armies do to me?" But Indra discerned both of his streams, and then advanced to do battle with the Dasyu.
10. There the cows lowed all around, scattered here and there, parted from their calves. Indra, with his powers, brought them back together, when the well-pressed soma drinks had gladdened him.
11. When the soma drinks, stirred by the tawny stalk, gladdened him, the bull bellowed loud in his seats. Indra, the breaker of strongholds, having drunk of it, gave back again the ruddy cows.
12. This good thing the Ruśamas have done, O Agni, giving four thousand cattle. We have received the bestowed gifts of Ṛṇaṁcaya, most manly of men.
13. The Ruśamas, O Agni, send me home well-adorned, with thousands of cattle. The strong pressed soma drinks gladdened Indra at the breaking of that perilous night.
14. That perilous night dawned, the night that belonged to Ṛṇaṁcaya, king of the Ruśamas. Like a swift racehorse being spurred on, the tawny one won four thousand.
15. Four thousand head of cattle-wealth we have received among the Ruśamas, O Agni. And the heated gharma-vessel that stood ready for the pravṛj rite, made of metal — that too we, the inspired ones, took.
Translator's note: Verses 1–11 recount Indra's cosmic exploits — his hidden track, his birth-strength, his splitting of the rock to free the cows, his slaying of the serpent and of the Dāsa Namuci, and his release of the cattle. Verses 12–15 shift to a danastuti (gift-praise) naming a historical patron, King Ṛṇaṁcaya of the Ruśamas, and the cattle and vessel he gave the poet. Verse 8 is spoken in the first person by an unnamed party (traditionally read as Indra's weapon or ally) declaring itself Indra's "yoke-fellow" in the killing of Namuci; the referent of "me" is left ambiguous in the Sanskrit and rendered conservatively here. "Gharma" in verse 15 names a heated milk-vessel used in the pravṛgya rite; it is left untranslated where no single English word covers it precisely.
Colophon
Rigveda V.30 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.30
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.
kva1 sya vīraḥ ko apaśyad indraṁ sukharatham īyamānaṁ haribhyām |
yo rāyā vajrī sutasomam icchan tad oko gantā puruhūta ūtī || 1 ||
avācacakṣam padam asya sasvar ugraṁ nidhātur anv āyam icchan |
apṛccham anyām̐ uta te ma āhur indraṁ naro bubudhānā aśema || 2 ||
pra nu vayaṁ sute yā te kṛtānīndra bravāma yāni no jujoṣaḥ |
vedad avidvāñ chṛṇavac ca vidvān vahate 'yam maghavā sarvasenaḥ || 3 ||
sthiram manaś cakṛṣe jāta indra veṣīd eko yudhaye bhūyasaś cit |
aśmānaṁ cic chavasā didyuto vi vido gavām ūrvam usriyāṇām || 4 ||
paro yat tvam parama ājaniṣṭhāḥ parāvati śrutyaṁ nāma bibhrat |
ataś cid indrād abhayanta devā viśvā apo ajayad dāsapatnīḥ || 5 ||
tubhyed ete marutaḥ suśevā arcanty arkaṁ sunvanty andhaḥ |
ahim ohānam apa āśayānam pra māyābhir māyinaṁ sakṣad indraḥ || 6 ||
vi ṣū mṛdho januṣā dānam invann ahan gavā maghavan saṁcakānaḥ |
atrā dāsasya namuceḥ śiro yad avartayo manave gātum icchan || 7 ||
yujaṁ hi mām akṛthā ād id indra śiro dāsasya namucer mathāyan |
aśmānaṁ cit svarya1ṁ vartamānam pra cakriyeva rodasī marudbhyaḥ || 8 ||
striyo hi dāsa āyudhāni cakre kim mā karann abalā asya senāḥ |
antar hy akhyad ubhe asya dhene athopa praid yudhaye dasyum indraḥ || 9 ||
sam atra gāvo 'bhito 'navanteheha vatsair viyutā yad āsan |
saṁ tā indro asṛjad asya śākair yad īṁ somāsaḥ suṣutā amandan || 10 ||
yad īṁ somā babhrudhūtā amandann aroravīd vṛṣabhaḥ sādaneṣu |
puraṁdaraḥ papivām̐ indro asya punar gavām adadād usriyāṇām || 11 ||
bhadram idaṁ ruśamā agne akran gavāṁ catvāri dadataḥ sahasrā |
ṛṇaṁcayasya prayatā maghāni praty agrabhīṣma nṛtamasya nṛṇām || 12 ||
supeśasam māva sṛjanty astaṁ gavāṁ sahasrai ruśamāso agne |
tīvrā indram amamanduḥ sutāso 'ktor vyuṣṭau paritakmyāyāḥ || 13 ||
aucchat sā rātrī paritakmyā yām̐ ṛṇaṁcaye rājani ruśamānām |
atyo na vājī raghur ajyamāno babhruś catvāry asanat sahasrā || 14 ||
catuḥsahasraṁ gavyasya paśvaḥ praty agrabhīṣma ruśameṣv agne |
gharmaś cit taptaḥ pravṛje ya āsīd ayasmayas tam v ādāma viprāḥ || 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).