Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara
Rigveda VI.7 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 head of heaven, the axle of earth, Agni Vaiśvānara, born in accordance with truth — the gods brought him forth as the poet-seer, the sovereign ruler, the guest of the peoples, a vessel set at the mouth.
2. The navel of sacrifices, the seat of riches, the great vessel of offering — toward him they cried out together. The gods brought forth Vaiśvānara, the charioteer of the rites, the banner of the sacrifice.
3. From you, O Agni, the inspired priest is born, the strong one; from you the heroes who overcome hostility. O Vaiśvānara, place in us, O king, treasures worth desiring.
4. All the gods cried out together toward you, O immortal one, as you were being born, like a child. By your powers they reached immortality, O Vaiśvānara, when you shone forth from your two parents.
5. O Vaiśvānara Agni, no one has ever dared assail these great ordinances of yours — that, being born in the lap of your two parents, you found the beacon among the markings of the days.
6. The ridges of heaven are measured out by Vaiśvānara's sight, by the beacon of the immortal one. Upon his head all the worlds have grown like branches — the seven outstreaming ones.
7. He who, wise in his workings, measured out the realms — Vaiśvānara the seer — measured out the luminous spaces of heaven; who has spread around all the worlds, the unassailable guardian, protector of the immortal.
Translator's note: verse 1's "a vessel set at the mouth" (āsann ā pātram) and verse 6's "seven outstreaming ones" (sapta visruhaḥ) are notoriously compressed images in the Sanskrit; they are rendered here literally rather than resolved into a single interpretation.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.7 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.7
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.
mūrdhānaṁ divo aratim pṛthivyā vaiśvānaram ṛta ā jātam agnim |
kaviṁ samrājam atithiṁ janānām āsann ā pātraṁ janayanta devāḥ || 1 ||
nābhiṁ yajñānāṁ sadanaṁ rayīṇām mahām āhāvam abhi saṁ navanta |
vaiśvānaraṁ rathyam adhvarāṇāṁ yajñasya ketuṁ janayanta devāḥ || 2 ||
tvad vipro jāyate vājy agne tvad vīrāso abhimātiṣāhaḥ |
vaiśvānara tvam asmāsu dhehi vasūni rājan spṛhayāyyāṇi || 3 ||
tvāṁ viśve amṛta jāyamānaṁ śiśuṁ na devā abhi saṁ navante |
tava kratubhir amṛtatvam āyan vaiśvānara yat pitror adīdeḥ || 4 ||
vaiśvānara tava tāni vratāni mahāny agne nakir ā dadharṣa |
yaj jāyamānaḥ pitror upasthe 'vindaḥ ketuṁ vayuneṣv ahnām || 5 ||
vaiśvānarasya vimitāni cakṣasā sānūni divo amṛtasya ketunā |
tasyed u viśvā bhuvanādhi mūrdhani vayā iva ruruhuḥ sapta visruhaḥ || 6 ||
vi yo rajāṁsy amimīta sukratur vaiśvānaro vi divo rocanā kaviḥ |
pari yo viśvā bhuvanāni paprathe 'dabdho gopā amṛtasya rakṣitā || 7 ||
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).