I.

Sing we of Indra, the slayer of Vṛtra the serpent,
Thou who didst break the coils of darkness and of death,
When Vṛtra lay coiled round the waters of the world,
And thou didst hurl thy thunderbolt and rend him asunder.

II.

The dragon lay in waiting, vast and terrible,
His body wound about the mountains and the clouds,
He held the rains imprisoned in his belly,
And all the earth lay parched beneath his curse.

III.

Then Indra, wise and valiant, didst conceive the plan,
Thou didst call upon Tvaṣṭṛ to forge thy weapon bright,
The thunderbolt, more terrible than all the powers,
That should cut through the serpent's scales and bones.

IV.

With might, O Indra, didst thou rise to battle,
The Maruts gathered round thee, crying out their war-cry loud,
Thou hurled the thunderbolt with all thy sovereign power,
And Vṛtra fell beneath the sky like thunder's fallen stone.

V.

The serpent writhed and twisted in his death-throes,
Blood poured forth from his broken body like a flood,
The waters, long imprisoned, leapt forth in exultation,
And rushed to flow again through rivers to the sea.

VI.

The sun rose up victorious in the eastern sky,
The rains came down upon the thirsty earth,
All creatures raised their voices in thanksgiving,
For Indra had restored the order of the world.

VII.

O mighty slayer of the demon Vṛtra,
Accept our praises, hear our grateful voice,
Keep thou the serpents ever in their chains,
And grant us always the abundance of the rains.

VIII.

By thee is kept the cosmic order sacred,
By thee the light perpetual shineth forth,
O Indra, let thy strength sustain us forever,
And shield us from the darkness that would rise again.