Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VI.35 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. When will our prayers become dwellings won through chariots? When will you give the singer wealth enough to nourish a thousand? When will you clothe this hymn of praise with riches? When will you make our devotions rich with the jewels of victory?
2. When indeed, Indra, will that come to pass — when you lay men low with men, heroes with heroes, in the victorious contests? You win threefold cattle-wealth besides; Indra, among the cattle grant us splendor bright as the sun.
3. When indeed, most mighty Indra, will you make for the singer a prayer that feeds all? When will you yoke your team as you inspire our thoughts? When, giver of cattle-gifts, will you come to our invocations?
4. You, giver of cattle, gleaming with horses — grant the singer abundance rich in renown. Swell the well-milking cow for us, Indra; shine brightly, resplendent, among the Bharadvājas.
5. Now, hero, mighty one, even in another way, you sing the doors wide open. Let nothing be lacking from the bright-milking cow; inspired one, quicken the Aṅgirases with this prayer.
Translator's note: This hymn is dense with compact Vedic compounds whose precise sense is debated. "rathakṣayāṇi" (v.1, "chariot-dwellings") and "vājaratnāḥ" ("prize-jewels") are rendered conservatively as wealth/victory imagery. "tridhātu gāḥ" (v.2, "threefold cattle") likely names a category of cattle-wealth rather than a literal count. "vṛjanam" and "vi duro gṛṇīṣe" in verse 5 (rendered "sing the doors wide open") are especially opaque; the translation follows the most literal sense of the roots (√vṛj "stronghold/enclosure," √gṝ "to call out, proclaim") without asserting a settled interpretation.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.35 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.35
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.
kadā bhuvan rathakṣayāṇi brahma kadā stotre sahasrapoṣyaṁ dāḥ |
kadā stomaṁ vāsayo 'sya rāyā kadā dhiyaḥ karasi vājaratnāḥ || 1 ||
karhi svit tad indra yan nṛbhir nṝn vīrair vīrān nīḻayāse jayājīn |
tridhātu gā adhi jayāsi goṣv indra dyumnaṁ svarvad dhehy asme || 2 ||
karhi svit tad indra yaj jaritre viśvapsu brahma kṛṇavaḥ śaviṣṭha |
kadā dhiyo na niyuto yuvāse kadā gomaghā havanāni gacchāḥ || 3 ||
sa gomaghā jaritre aśvaścandrā vājaśravaso adhi dhehi pṛkṣaḥ |
pīpihīṣaḥ sudughām indra dhenum bharadvājeṣu suruco rurucyāḥ || 4 ||
tam ā nūnaṁ vṛjanam anyathā cic chūro yac chakra vi duro gṛṇīṣe |
mā nir araṁ śukradughasya dhenor āṅgirasān brahmaṇā vipra jinva || 5 ||
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).