Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.19 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. Great Indra, filling the peoples like a leader among men, doubly mighty, undiminished in his powers — he has grown toward us for the sake of heroic strength, wide and broad; he was made well-wrought by those who shape him in song.
2. Devotion has set Indra alone in place for our winning — the vast one, the lofty one, ageless, ever young, grown strong with unconquerable strength, who in a single day grew beyond all measure.
3. With broad hands, with ample arms, measure out to us your treasures of fame. Like a herdsman gathering his herds of cattle, friend of the house, turn toward us, Indra, in the contest.
4. That watchful Indra of yours, with his powers, here and now, seeking strength — let us call on him, as the singers of old did, blameless, faultless, unharmed.
5. Steadfast in his ordinances, wealth-giving, grown strong on soma — he indeed is rich in excellent goods, abounding in plenty. The paths of riches have gathered together in him, as rivers rush together into the sea.
6. Bring to us, O hero, the mightiest strength, the most powerful might, O overpowering, fierce one. Give us all the splendors and the manly powers of men, O lord of bay steeds, that we may rejoice.
7. That battle-conquering, unfailing rapture of yours, O Indra — bring it to us grown mighty, by which, in winning sons and descendants, we, aided by you, may count ourselves victorious.
8. Bring to us, O Indra, bull-like fury, wealth-winning, grown mighty, most capable — by which, with your help, we may overcome enemies in battle, both kin and strangers.
9. Let your power come to us, O bull, from behind, from above, from below, from in front — let it converge upon us from every side. Indra, grant us splendor bright as the sun.
10. With your most manly aids, O Indra, may we, like men, win the cherished gift through your renowned deeds. For you, O king, watch over both kinds of wealth — grant us a treasure great, ample, and vast.
11. Indra, accompanied by the Maruts, the growing bull, ungrudging, the heavenly ruler, all-conquering — for our help, on this new occasion, fierce, giver of strength — let us call on him here.
12. O wielder of the thunderbolt, subdue to these men, among whom I stand, the tribe that thinks itself great. Therefore we call on you in the contest for land, for the winning of battle, for offspring, for cattle, for waters.
13. May we, O much-invoked one, through these bonds of friendship with you, stand superior over every single enemy. Slaying obstacles of both kinds, O hero, may we, aided by you, rejoice in great wealth.
Translator's note: verse 1's "catinam"-adjacent forms and verse 4's "catinam" are uncertain; "catinam" is rendered conservatively as "watchful," following its likely connection to the root cit- ("to perceive"). Several epithets translated here as single words (e.g. "damūnāḥ," "akavārim," "sudakṣam") carry compressed layers of meaning in Vedic Sanskrit that no single modern English word fully captures.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.19 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.19
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.
mahām̐ indro nṛvad ā carṣaṇiprā uta dvibarhā aminaḥ sahobhiḥ |
asmadryag vāvṛdhe vīryāyoruḥ pṛthuḥ sukṛtaḥ kartṛbhir bhūt || 1 ||
indram eva dhiṣaṇā sātaye dhād bṛhantam ṛṣvam ajaraṁ yuvānam |
aṣāḻhena śavasā śūśuvāṁsaṁ sadyaś cid yo vāvṛdhe asāmi || 2 ||
pṛthū karasnā bahulā gabhastī asmadrya1k sam mimīhi śravāṁsi |
yūtheva paśvaḥ paśupā damūnā asmām̐ indrābhy ā vavṛtsvājau || 3 ||
taṁ va indraṁ catinam asya śākair iha nūnaṁ vājayanto huvema |
yathā cit pūrve jaritāra āsur anedyā anavadyā ariṣṭāḥ || 4 ||
dhṛtavrato dhanadāḥ somavṛddhaḥ sa hi vāmasya vasunaḥ purukṣuḥ |
saṁ jagmire pathyā3 rāyo asmin samudre na sindhavo yādamānāḥ || 5 ||
śaviṣṭhaṁ na ā bhara śūra śava ojiṣṭham ojo abhibhūta ugram |
viśvā dyumnā vṛṣṇyā mānuṣāṇām asmabhyaṁ dā harivo mādayadhyai || 6 ||
yas te madaḥ pṛtanāṣāḻ amṛdhra indra taṁ na ā bhara śūśuvāṁsam |
yena tokasya tanayasya sātau maṁsīmahi jigīvāṁsas tvotāḥ || 7 ||
ā no bhara vṛṣaṇaṁ śuṣmam indra dhanaspṛtaṁ śūśuvāṁsaṁ sudakṣam |
yena vaṁsāma pṛtanāsu śatrūn tavotibhir uta jāmīm̐r ajāmīn || 8 ||
ā te śuṣmo vṛṣabha etu paścād ottarād adharād ā purastāt |
ā viśvato abhi sam etv arvāṅ indra dyumnaṁ svarvad dhehy asme || 9 ||
nṛvat ta indra nṛtamābhir ūtī vaṁsīmahi vāmaṁ śromatebhiḥ |
īkṣe hi vasva ubhayasya rājan dhā ratnam mahi sthūram bṛhantam || 10 ||
marutvantaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ vāvṛdhānam akavāriṁ divyaṁ śāsam indram |
viśvāsāham avase nūtanāyograṁ sahodām iha taṁ huvema || 11 ||
janaṁ vajrin mahi cin manyamānam ebhyo nṛbhyo randhayā yeṣv asmi |
adhā hi tvā pṛthivyāṁ śūrasātau havāmahe tanaye goṣv apsu || 12 ||
vayaṁ ta ebhiḥ puruhūta sakhyaiḥ śatroḥ-śatror uttara it syāma |
ghnanto vṛtrāṇy ubhayāni śūra rāyā madema bṛhatā tvotāḥ || 13 ||
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).