Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.24 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. The bull-like exhilaration, the praise, the hymns are with Indra together, at the soma-pressings — drinker of the pressed soma, drinker of the soma-dregs. The bounteous one is to be praised by men with hymns, the heavenly king of songs, whose help never fails.
2. The victorious hero, manly, discerning, hearer of the call of the one who sings praise, whose help reaches wide — the good one, praised by men, sustainer of the poet, the vigorous one: when praised in the assembly, he gives strength.
3. Like the axle of two wheels, O hero, your greatness, vast, has outstripped the two worlds. Like the branches of a tree, O much-invoked one, your many ancient graces have spread wide, O Indra.
4. Your powers, O you of great might, are many, like the converging tracks of cows. Your bonds, O Indra, are like the tethers of calves — bounteous, yet unbinding, O good bestower.
5. One deed today, another tomorrow — the unreal and the real, again and again, Indra brings about. Here Mitra and Varuṇa are with us, and Pūṣan; the lord oversees what is willed.
6. Like waters from the mountain's ridge, they have led you forth, O Indra, with hymns, with sacrifices. Urging you on with these fine praises, your praise-bearing horses have come, as to a race.
7. Whom the autumns do not age, nor the months, nor do the days wear thin — let his body, though already grown great, grow further still, praised with chants and hymns.
8. Being praised, he bows not to the hard, not to the firm, not to the arrogant one driven by the Dasyu. Indra's are the plains, even the lofty mountains; even in the deep there is a foothold for him.
9. With your deep and wide bounty, O boundless one, grant us the impulses of strength, O drinker of the pressed soma. Stand up well with your help, unharmed, at the breaking of the night, in the hour of peril.
10. Join with us for help in the encounter; from here, O Indra, guard that one from harm. Protect him from harm at home and in the wilderness. May we rejoice, living a hundred winters, rich in strong sons.
Translator's note: verse 4 turns on a wordplay in the Sanskrit — "dāman" can mean both "tether/bond" and "gift/bounty" — rendered here as "bonds... bounteous, yet unbinding" to keep both senses visible. Verse 5's "aryo vaśasya paryetā" (literally "the lord is the overseer of the will/desire") is rendered conservatively as "the lord oversees what is willed." Verse 9's vocative "amatrin" (from "measureless" or "without a vessel/foe") is rendered as "O boundless one" for lack of a settled sense.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.24 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.24
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.
vṛṣā mada indre śloka ukthā sacā someṣu sutapā ṛjīṣī |
arcatryo maghavā nṛbhya ukthair dyukṣo rājā girām akṣitotiḥ || 1 ||
taturir vīro naryo vicetāḥ śrotā havaṁ gṛṇata urvyūtiḥ |
vasuḥ śaṁso narāṁ kārudhāyā vājī stuto vidathe dāti vājam || 2 ||
akṣo na cakryoḥ śūra bṛhan pra te mahnā ririce rodasyoḥ |
vṛkṣasya nu te puruhūta vayā vy ū3tayo ruruhur indra pūrvīḥ || 3 ||
śacīvatas te puruśāka śākā gavām iva srutayaḥ saṁcaraṇīḥ |
vatsānāṁ na tantayas ta indra dāmanvanto adāmānaḥ sudāman || 4 ||
anyad adya karvaram anyad u śvo 'sac ca san muhur ācakrir indraḥ |
mitro no atra varuṇaś ca pūṣāryo vaśasya paryetāsti || 5 ||
vi tvad āpo na parvatasya pṛṣṭhād ukthebhir indrānayanta yajñaiḥ |
taṁ tvābhiḥ suṣṭutibhir vājayanta ājiṁ na jagmur girvāho aśvāḥ || 6 ||
na yaṁ jaranti śarado na māsā na dyāva indram avakarśayanti |
vṛddhasya cid vardhatām asya tanūḥ stomebhir ukthaiś ca śasyamānā || 7 ||
na vīḻave namate na sthirāya na śardhate dasyujūtāya stavān |
ajrā indrasya girayaś cid ṛṣvā gambhīre cid bhavati gādham asmai || 8 ||
gambhīreṇa na uruṇāmatrin preṣo yandhi sutapāvan vājān |
sthā ū ṣu ūrdhva ūtī ariṣaṇyann aktor vyuṣṭau paritakmyāyām || 9 ||
sacasva nāyam avase abhīka ito vā tam indra pāhi riṣaḥ |
amā cainam araṇye pāhi riṣo madema śatahimāḥ suvīrāḥ || 10 ||
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).