Hymn to Indra

Rigveda VI.43 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 soma in whose intoxication you subdued that Śambara for Divodāsa — this is that soma, Indra, pressed for you: drink it.

2. The soma whose sharp-pressed exhilaration you guard, from its middle to its end — this is that soma, Indra, pressed for you: drink it.

3. The soma in whose intoxication you released the cows held fast within the rock — this is that soma, Indra, pressed for you: drink it.

4. The soma-juice by which, growing exhilarated, you have taken on your bounteous might — this is that soma, Indra, pressed for you: drink it.

Translator's note: each verse closes with the same refrain (ayaṁ sa soma indra te sutaḥ piba, "this is that soma, Indra, pressed for you; drink it"), rendered identically throughout. In verse 4, māghonam is a compact epithet-derived accusative ("of/belonging to the bounteous one," i.e. Indra as Maghavan) modifying "might"; it is rendered conservatively as "your bounteous might."

Colophon

Rigveda VI.43 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.43

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.

yasya tyac chambaram made divodāsāya randhayaḥ |
ayaṁ sa soma indra te sutaḥ piba || 1 ||

yasya tīvrasutam madam madhyam antaṁ ca rakṣase |
ayaṁ sa soma indra te sutaḥ piba || 2 ||

yasya gā antar aśmano made dṛḻhā avāsṛjaḥ |
ayaṁ sa soma indra te sutaḥ piba || 3 ||

yasya mandāno andhaso māghonaṁ dadhiṣe śavaḥ |
ayaṁ sa soma indra te sutaḥ piba || 4 ||

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).