Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.26 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. Hear us, Indra — we call you, eager for the winning of great strength. When the clans converge in the struggle for valor, grant us your mighty help on the decisive day.
2. The swift one, son of the swift one, calls you in the winning of a great, worthy prize. In battles against foes, Indra, you are the true lord and victor — the fist-fighter, battling for cattle, looks to you.
3. You spurred on the sage in the winning of the sacred song. You tore Śuṣṇa apart for Kutsa the worshipper. You struck off the head of the one who had no vital point, about to perform a praiseworthy deed for Atithigva.
4. You bore the chariot forward, the lofty warrior; you helped the bull-like Daśadyu in his fight. You struck down Tugra at once for Vetasu; you drove Tuji the singer onward, Indra.
5. You performed that deed by your own might, Indra, when, O hero, you burst open hundreds, thousands of strongholds. You struck down the dāsa Śambara from the mountain; you helped Divodāsa with wondrous aid.
6. Delighted by the somas offered in trust, you put Cumuri to sleep for Dabhīti, Indra. Favoring Piṭhīnas, you gave him Raji; by your power you struck down sixty thousand at once.
7. May I too attain, together with the patrons, your greater favor and strength, Indra — the favor by which, O companion of heroes, mightiest one, the heroes are glorified under threefold shelter through Nahuṣa.
8. May we, Indra, be your friends in this invocation for glory, dearest through your greatness. May Prātardani, resplendent in dominion, be foremost in the slaying of foes, in the winning of riches.
Translator's note: This hymn catalogues episodes from Indra's battle-lore that are otherwise known only in fragments across the Rigveda, so several names are proper names of legendary patrons or foes whose full stories are lost — Kutsa, Atithigva, Daśadyu, Tugra, Vetasu, Tuji, Divodāsa, Dabhīti, Cumuri, Piṭhīnas, Raji, and Prātardani among them. Verse 7's phrase "trivarūthena nahuṣā" (rendered here as "under threefold shelter through Nahuṣa") is genuinely obscure — it may refer to a legendary king Nahuṣa or more generally to human descendants, and "threefold shelter" is a conservative literal rendering of an epithet whose precise sense is uncertain.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.26 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.26
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.
śrudhī na indra hvayāmasi tvā maho vājasya sātau vāvṛṣāṇāḥ |
saṁ yad viśo 'yanta śūrasātā ugraṁ no 'vaḥ pārye ahan dāḥ || 1 ||
tvāṁ vājī havate vājineyo maho vājasya gadhyasya sātau |
tvāṁ vṛtreṣv indra satpatiṁ tarutraṁ tvāṁ caṣṭe muṣṭihā goṣu yudhyan || 2 ||
tvaṁ kaviṁ codayo 'rkasātau tvaṁ kutsāya śuṣṇaṁ dāśuṣe vark |
tvaṁ śiro amarmaṇaḥ parāhann atithigvāya śaṁsyaṁ kariṣyan || 3 ||
tvaṁ ratham pra bharo yodham ṛṣvam āvo yudhyantaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ daśadyum |
tvaṁ tugraṁ vetasave sacāhan tvaṁ tujiṁ gṛṇantam indra tūtoḥ || 4 ||
tvaṁ tad uktham indra barhaṇā kaḥ pra yac chatā sahasrā śūra darṣi |
ava girer dāsaṁ śambaraṁ han prāvo divodāsaṁ citrābhir ūtī || 5 ||
tvaṁ śraddhābhir mandasānaḥ somair dabhītaye cumurim indra siṣvap |
tvaṁ rajim piṭhīnase daśasyan ṣaṣṭiṁ sahasrā śacyā sacāhan || 6 ||
ahaṁ cana tat sūribhir ānaśyāṁ tava jyāya indra sumnam ojaḥ |
tvayā yat stavante sadhavīra vīrās trivarūthena nahuṣā śaviṣṭha || 7 ||
vayaṁ te asyām indra dyumnahūtau sakhāyaḥ syāma mahina preṣṭhāḥ |
prātardaniḥ kṣatraśrīr astu śreṣṭho ghane vṛtrāṇāṁ sanaye dhanānām || 8 ||
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).