Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VI.11 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 6 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. Sacrifice, O Hotar — impelled, most worthy to sacrifice, O Agni — drive on, like the urging of the Maruts. Turn toward us, for the offering, Mitra and Varuṇa, the Nāsatyas, Heaven and Earth.
2. You are the Hotar, most gladdening, faithful to us, the god among mortals at the sacrificial gatherings. With your purifying tongue as bearer, with your mouth, O Agni, sacrifice your own body.
3. Indeed the bounteous Dhiṣaṇā desires, in you, to worship the race of gods for the one who sings praise — when the most fervent of the Aṅgirases, the inspired poet, the singer, utters a sweet hymn at the offering.
4. He has shone out brightly, O far-shining Agni — sacrifice to the two wide world-halves. Him, like Āyu, the five peoples anoint with homage, bringing oblations, richly provisioned.
5. When with homage I strew the sacred grass for Agni, the ghee-filled, well-wielded ladle is offered. The seat is set in the dwelling-place of the earth; the sacrifice is raised up like an eye toward the sun.
6. Favor us, O many-faced Hotar; O Agni, kindled together with the gods and fires — O son of strength, clothed in wealth — may we pass safely beyond the enclosing distress.
Translator's note: a few terms resist confident single-word rendering and are kept conservative here. "Dhiṣaṇā" (v.3) is a minor goddess/personified insight associated with the sacrifice, left untranslated as a proper name. "Apāka" (v.4), rendered "far-shining," is an obscure epithet whose exact sense is debated. "Purvaṇīka" (v.6), rendered "many-faced," describes Agni's many fronts or flame-faces. "Vṛjana" (v.6), rendered "enclosing distress," denotes a besetting narrowness or encirclement rather than a single fixed danger.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.11 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 VI.11
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.
yajasva hotar iṣito yajīyān agne bādho marutāṁ na prayukti |
ā no mitrāvaruṇā nāsatyā dyāvā hotrāya pṛthivī vavṛtyāḥ || 1 ||
tvaṁ hotā mandratamo no adhrug antar devo vidathā martyeṣu |
pāvakayā juhvā3 vahnir āsāgne yajasva tanva1ṁ tava svām || 2 ||
dhanyā cid dhi tve dhiṣaṇā vaṣṭi pra devāñ janma gṛṇate yajadhyai |
vepiṣṭho aṅgirasāṁ yad dha vipro madhu cchando bhanati rebha iṣṭau || 3 ||
adidyutat sv apāko vibhāvāgne yajasva rodasī urūcī |
āyuṁ na yaṁ namasā rātahavyā añjanti suprayasam pañca janāḥ || 4 ||
vṛñje ha yan namasā barhir agnāv ayāmi srug ghṛtavatī suvṛktiḥ |
amyakṣi sadma sadane pṛthivyā aśrāyi yajñaḥ sūrye na cakṣuḥ || 5 ||
daśasyā naḥ purvaṇīka hotar devebhir agne agnibhir idhānaḥ |
rāyaḥ sūno sahaso vāvasānā ati srasema vṛjanaṁ nāṁhaḥ || 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).