Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VI.4 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. As you, O invoking priest, son of strength, sacrifice with offerings in the god-worship of Manu — so today, desiring it, worship for us, O Agni, the eager gods, all gathered together.
2. May he, far-shining like the light of dawn, Agni worthy of praise and worthy of worship, grant us delight — he whose life spans all ages, the immortal one who among mortals, waking at dawn, has become our guest, Jātavedas, knower of all that is born.
3. He whose vastness even the heavens marvel at, who clothes himself in radiances like the bright sun — he, unaging, the purifier, who drives forth and even shatters the ancient things of the stone.
4. Indeed you are the proclaimer, O son, seated among the eaters; Agni by birth has made food for the journey. You, winner of strength, bestow strength on us; like a conquering king you dwell within, in a place free of wolves.
5. He who eats the formidable food, who like Vāyu, the ruler, passes through the nights — may we overcome, through him, the hostilities that come at you from every quarter, like a horse that swerves clear of the swooping snares.
6. Like the sun with its radiant beams, O Agni, you have spread your light across the two worlds. The brilliant one, anointed, leads beyond the darkness with his blaze, flying on the wing like the son of Uśij.
7. We have chosen you, most gladdening one, with our radiant songs — hear our great call, O Agni. Like Indra in power, like Vāyu in divinity, the foremost of men fill you with their bounty.
8. Now, O Agni, lead us to well-being by paths free of wolves, by roads of wealth; carry us across distress. Grant this favor to the patrons, to the one who praises you — may we rejoice for a hundred winters, blessed with strong sons.
Translator's note: Several phrases in this hymn are compressed or textually uncertain even in the standard editions. Verse 3's "aśnasya... pūrvyāṇi" (rendered here as "the ancient things of the stone") could instead mean "of the eater/devourer"; both readings are attested in the scholarly literature. Verse 5's opening word "nitikti" is obscure and its clause is rendered conservatively. Verse 6's "auśijaḥ" is kept as a proper-name epithet (traditionally "son of Uśij") describing a swift, bird-like flight, rather than expanded into a story the Sanskrit does not tell.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.4 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.4
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.
yathā hotar manuṣo devatātā yajñebhiḥ sūno sahaso yajāsi |
evā no adya samanā samānān uśann agna uśato yakṣi devān || 1 ||
sa no vibhāvā cakṣaṇir na vastor agnir vandāru vedyaś cano dhāt |
viśvāyur yo amṛto martyeṣūṣarbhud bhūd atithir jātavedāḥ || 2 ||
dyāvo na yasya panayanty abhvam bhāsāṁsi vaste sūryo na śukraḥ |
vi ya inoty ajaraḥ pāvako 'śnasya cic chiśnathat pūrvyāṇi || 3 ||
vadmā hi sūno asy admasadvā cakre agnir januṣājmānnam |
sa tvaṁ na ūrjasana ūrjaṁ dhā rājeva jer avṛke kṣeṣy antaḥ || 4 ||
nitikti yo vāraṇam annam atti vāyur na rāṣṭry aty ety aktūn |
turyāma yas ta ādiśām arātīr atyo na hrutaḥ patataḥ parihrut || 5 ||
ā sūryo na bhānumadbhir arkair agne tatantha rodasī vi bhāsā |
citro nayat pari tamāṁsy aktaḥ śociṣā patmann auśijo na dīyan || 6 ||
tvāṁ hi mandratamam arkaśokair vavṛmahe mahi naḥ śroṣy agne |
indraṁ na tvā śavasā devatā vāyum pṛṇanti rādhasā nṛtamāḥ || 7 ||
nū no agne 'vṛkebhiḥ svasti veṣi rāyaḥ pathibhiḥ parṣy aṁhaḥ |
tā sūribhyo gṛṇate rāsi sumnam madema śatahimāḥ suvīrāḥ || 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).