Hymn to Indra

Rigveda V.34 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 unaging one, heaven-possessing, moves by her own nature toward the wondrous one whose enemy is unborn. Press the soma, cook the offering, for him who carries the sacred word; give further increase to the much-praised one.

2. He who filled his belly with soma, the bounteous one, was exhilarated by the sweet plant's juice — when, to strike down the wild beast, the great-weaponed one: Uśanas directed the thousand-pronged weapon to him.

3. Whoever presses soma for him, in the heat of day or at the milking, becomes truly radiant. Śakra is without stain; the bright-bodied bounteous one, friend of the sage, carries forward his worshipper's increase.

4. Whose father he has struck down, whose mother, whose brother — Śakra does not relent on that account. He desires indeed his own due offering, the restrainer; the wellspring of wealth is not held back by wrongdoing.

5. He does not wish to be seized by five men or by ten; he does not keep company with the non-presser, even one who prospers. He overcomes, or by that same strength strikes down; the roaring one grants the god-seeking man a share in the cow-filled pen.

6. Vigorous, setting the wheel of battle in motion in the clash, hostile to the one who does not press soma, increaser of the one who does — Indra, tamer of all, the fear-inspiring one: the noble Ārya leads the Dāsa as he wishes.

7. He drives together the Paṇi's hoarded wealth to plunder it, and to the worshipper he distributes excellent goods. Not even in a stronghold is he held back at all — whoever has stirred his might to anger.

8. When two peoples, both wealthy, both all-powerful, contended, Indra the bounteous took notice, over the splendid cattle. He made the other his ally, the trembling one; the roaring one lets loose the cattle-quest with his band of warriors.

9. I praise Āgniveśi, winner of a thousand, Śatri — O Agni — the highest beacon of the noble one. For him may the gathered waters swell; in him may there be forceful, brilliant dominion.

Translator's note: this hymn is difficult Vedic Sanskrit in places. Verse 1's opening ("the unaging one, heaven-possessing") likely names a hymn or stream rather than a person, but the referent is not certain from the verse alone. Verse 2 names Uśanas (Kavya Uśanas), the sage associated in Vedic myth with fashioning or granting Indra's weapon. Verse 4 concerns Indra's severity toward the kin of those who withhold soma; the syntax admits more than one construal. Verse 9 shifts into a dāna-stuti (gift-praise) addressed to Agni, honoring a human patron named Śatri, described as a descendant of Agniveśa — a common closing convention in Rigvedic hymns, praising the sacrificer who funded the rite rather than the god of the hymn's body.

Colophon

Rigveda V.34 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.34

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.

ajātaśatrum ajarā svarvaty anu svadhāmitā dasmam īyate |
sunotana pacata brahmavāhase puruṣṭutāya prataraṁ dadhātana || 1 ||

ā yaḥ somena jaṭharam apipratāmandata maghavā madhvo andhasaḥ |
yad īm mṛgāya hantave mahāvadhaḥ sahasrabhṛṣṭim uśanā vadhaṁ yamat || 2 ||

yo asmai ghraṁsa uta vā ya ūdhani somaṁ sunoti bhavati dyumām̐ aha |
apāpa śakras tatanuṣṭim ūhati tanūśubhram maghavā yaḥ kavāsakhaḥ || 3 ||

yasyāvadhīt pitaraṁ yasya mātaraṁ yasya śakro bhrātaraṁ nāta īṣate |
vetīd v asya prayatā yataṁkaro na kilbiṣād īṣate vasva ākaraḥ || 4 ||

na pañcabhir daśabhir vaṣṭy ārabhaṁ nāsunvatā sacate puṣyatā cana |
jināti ved amuyā hanti vā dhunir ā devayum bhajati gomati vraje || 5 ||

vitvakṣaṇaḥ samṛtau cakramāsajo 'sunvato viṣuṇaḥ sunvato vṛdhaḥ |
indro viśvasya damitā vibhīṣaṇo yathāvaśaṁ nayati dāsam āryaḥ || 6 ||

sam īm paṇer ajati bhojanam muṣe vi dāśuṣe bhajati sūnaraṁ vasu |
durge cana dhriyate viśva ā puru jano yo asya taviṣīm acukrudhat || 7 ||

saṁ yaj janau sudhanau viśvaśardhasāv aved indro maghavā goṣu śubhriṣu |
yujaṁ hy a1nyam akṛta pravepany ud īṁ gavyaṁ sṛjate satvabhir dhuniḥ || 8 ||

sahasrasām āgniveśiṁ gṛṇīṣe śatrim agna upamāṁ ketum aryaḥ |
tasmā āpaḥ saṁyataḥ pīpayanta tasmin kṣatram amavat tveṣam astu || 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).