Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.27 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. What has Indra done in his exhilaration, what in his drinking of soma, what in his friendship? Those who fought in the battle-line — what did they find of this before, and what do the new ones find now?
2. Real it was, what Indra did in his exhilaration, real in his drinking, real in his friendship. The battle-line — real is what they found of this before, and real what the new ones find.
3. We do not know the whole of your greatness, bounteous one, nor the whole of your bounty; not gift after new gift — no one, Indra, has ever seen your full power.
4. Now that power of yours has been made known, by which you struck down the remnant of Varaśikha's people. When your bolt was hurled, from its fury, even from its sound alone, Indra, the farthest one was torn apart.
5. Indra struck down the remnant of Varaśikha's people, helping Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna, when he killed the Vṛcīvants at Hariyūpīyā — the first half he slew, the other half burst apart in fear.
6. A hundred and thirty armored men together, Indra, much-invoked one, at the Yavyāvatī, seeking glory — the Vṛcīvants, falling before the arrow, shattering their own vessels, went down to ruin.
7. He whose two red oxen, fond of good pasture, range well between the yokes, licking each other — he gave Turvaśa over to Sṛñjaya, favoring Daivavāta, and gave over the Vṛcīvants.
8. Agni, twenty charioteers with their wives, twenty cows — the bounteous sovereign gave to me. Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna gives this hard-to-match gift, the tribute-fee of the Pārthavas.
Translator's note: This hymn is a danastuti (gift-praise) tied to a specific battle — Indra's aid to King Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna of the Pārthavas against the Vṛcīvants at Hariyūpīyā and the Yavyāvatī river. Verse 7 is syntactically compressed in the Sanskrit; "he" is Indra, and the image of the two red oxen most likely describes an offering-team or the king's own chariot animals, but the exact referent is not certain from the verse alone. Proper names (Varaśikha, Hariyūpīyā, Yavyāvatī, Vṛcīvants, Sṛñjaya, Turvaśa, Daivavāta, Pārthavas) are peoples, places, or persons named only here or in a handful of Rigvedic verses, and are rendered as transliterated names rather than translated.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.27 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.27
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.
kim asya made kim v asya pītāv indraḥ kim asya sakhye cakāra |
raṇā vā ye niṣadi kiṁ te asya purā vividre kim u nūtanāsaḥ || 1 ||
sad asya made sad v asya pītāv indraḥ sad asya sakhye cakāra |
raṇā vā ye niṣadi sat te asya purā vividre sad u nūtanāsaḥ || 2 ||
nahi nu te mahimanaḥ samasya na maghavan maghavattvasya vidma |
na rādhaso-rādhaso nūtanasyendra nakir dadṛśa indriyaṁ te || 3 ||
etat tyat ta indriyam aceti yenāvadhīr varaśikhasya śeṣaḥ |
vajrasya yat te nihatasya śuṣmāt svanāc cid indra paramo dadāra || 4 ||
vadhīd indro varaśikhasya śeṣo 'bhyāvartine cāyamānāya śikṣan |
vṛcīvato yad dhariyūpīyāyāṁ han pūrve ardhe bhiyasāparo dart || 5 ||
triṁśacchataṁ varmiṇa indra sākaṁ yavyāvatyām puruhūta śravasyā |
vṛcīvantaḥ śarave patyamānāḥ pātrā bhindānā nyarthāny āyan || 6 ||
yasya gāvāv aruṣā sūyavasyū antar ū ṣu carato rerihāṇā |
sa sṛñjayāya turvaśam parādād vṛcīvato daivavātāya śikṣan || 7 ||
dvayām̐ agne rathino viṁśatiṁ gā vadhūmato maghavā mahyaṁ samrāṭ |
abhyāvartī cāyamāno dadāti dūṇāśeyaṁ dakṣiṇā pārthavānām || 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).