Hymn to Indra
Rigveda V.36 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. May Indra come, he who takes note of goods, of the giving of the gift of riches — like a thirsty bull roaming the desert, eager, let him drink the milked soma stalk.
2. To your jaws, tawny-horsed hero, the soma has climbed, as if onto the back of a mountain. Following you, king, urging you on like a racehorse, may we all rejoice with our songs, much-invoked one.
3. Like a turning wheel, much-invoked one, my mind trembles in fear of want, O wielder of the pressing-stone. From the chariot your singer, ever strengthening you, will surely praise you, bounteous lord rich in goods.
4. This singer of yours, Indra, like a pressing-stone sends up a great voice, straining eagerly. Reach out riches with your left hand, bounteous one — reach out with your right, tawny-horsed one — do not turn away from me.
5. May Heaven the bull strengthen you, the bull; bull, you are carried by your two bull tawny horses. May you, bull with the bull-chariot, fair-jawed one, of bull-like will, the bull, wielder of the thunderbolt — set us down victorious in the contest.
6. He who, rich in prize-steeds, gave two ruddy prize-winning horses along with three hundred more — let the settled peoples bow together to him, the young one of famed chariot, Maruts, seeking his favor.
Translator's note: "bhare dhāḥ" in verse 5 (literally "place us in the contest/battle") is rendered as "set us down victorious," the sense the surrounding bull-imagery of strength and conquest implies. Verse 6 shifts from address to Indra into a closing danastuti (gift-praise) of a human patron who gave horses and cattle; "duvoyā" is rendered "seeking his favor" as an honest approximation of an uncertain compound.
Colophon
Rigveda V.36 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.36
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.
sa ā gamad indro yo vasūnāṁ ciketad dātuṁ dāmano rayīṇām |
dhanvacaro na vaṁsagas tṛṣāṇaś cakamānaḥ pibatu dugdham aṁśum || 1 ||
ā te hanū harivaḥ śūra śipre ruhat somo na parvatasya pṛṣṭhe |
anu tvā rājann arvato na hinvan gīrbhir madema puruhūta viśve || 2 ||
cakraṁ na vṛttam puruhūta vepate mano bhiyā me amater id adrivaḥ |
rathād adhi tvā jaritā sadāvṛdha kuvin nu stoṣan maghavan purūvasuḥ || 3 ||
eṣa grāveva jaritā ta indreyarti vācam bṛhad āśuṣāṇaḥ |
pra savyena maghavan yaṁsi rāyaḥ pra dakṣiṇid dharivo mā vi venaḥ || 4 ||
vṛṣā tvā vṛṣaṇaṁ vardhatu dyaur vṛṣā vṛṣabhyāṁ vahase haribhyām |
sa no vṛṣā vṛṣarathaḥ suśipra vṛṣakrato vṛṣā vajrin bhare dhāḥ || 5 ||
yo rohitau vājinau vājinīvān tribhiḥ śataiḥ sacamānāv adiṣṭa |
yūne sam asmai kṣitayo namantāṁ śrutarathāya maruto duvoyā || 6 ||
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).