Hymn to Indra and Agni
Rigveda V.86 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 mortal whom you two, Indra and Agni, favor in the contests for strength — he breaks through even fortified things by his splendor, as Trita breaks through with his voice.
2. We call on that help of yours which is unconquerable in battles, renowned in the contests for strength, which reaches over the five peoples — Indra and Agni, we call it to us.
3. Their strength alone is fierce, the dart of the two bounteous ones is sharp. With the bow-wood in his two hands, the slayer of Vṛtra rushes forth after the cattle.
4. We call you two, Indra and Agni, to the rush of the chariots — lords of swift bounty, knowing ones, most fond of songs of praise.
5. Those two, growing day after day, gods who cannot be deceived, for the mortal's sake — I set this worthy pair in front, like two shares set aside for the racehorse.
6. So the oblation has been offered to Indra and Agni, strength-giving, purified like ghee by the pressing stones. May lofty fame be held fast among the patrons, wealth held fast among those who sing praise, nourishment held fast among those who sing praise.
Translator's note: verse 3 (gabhastyoḥ, "in/with the two hands or arms") and verse 5 (aṁśā iva, "like two shares/portions," an image evidently drawn from a horse race or its stakes) are compact and somewhat obscure in the Sanskrit; the renderings above are conservative rather than confident.
Colophon
Rigveda V.86 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.86
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.
indrāgnī yam avatha ubhā vājeṣu martyam |
dṛḻhā cit sa pra bhedati dyumnā vāṇīr iva tritaḥ || 1 ||
yā pṛtanāsu duṣṭarā yā vājeṣu śravāyyā |
yā pañca carṣaṇīr abhīndrāgnī tā havāmahe || 2 ||
tayor id amavac chavas tigmā didyun maghonoḥ |
prati druṇā gabhastyor gavāṁ vṛtraghna eṣate || 3 ||
tā vām eṣe rathānām indrāgnī havāmahe |
patī turasya rādhaso vidvāṁsā girvaṇastamā || 4 ||
tā vṛdhantāv anu dyūn martāya devāv adabhā |
arhantā cit puro dadhe 'ṁśeva devāv arvate || 5 ||
evendrāgnibhyām ahāvi havyaṁ śūṣyaṁ ghṛtaṁ na pūtam adribhiḥ |
tā sūriṣu śravo bṛhad rayiṁ gṛṇatsu didhṛtam iṣaṁ gṛṇatsu didhṛtam || 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).