Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara
Rigveda VI.9 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 dark day and the bright day turn about through their known paths. Vaiśvānara, being born like a king, Agni has overcome the darknesses with his light.
2. I do not know the warp, nor do I know the weft, nor what they weave as they move about, striving in the contest. Whose son indeed shall speak here the words to be spoken, beyond, with a father lesser than he?
3. He indeed knows the warp, he knows the weft, he speaks the words to be spoken rightly, in due order — he who has understood this, the guardian of the immortal, moving here below while seeing beyond with the other eye.
4. This is the first Hotṛ — behold him! This is the immortal light among mortals. He was born firm, seated in his place, immortal, growing in his body.
5. The firm light is set in place to be seen — the mind, swiftest among the things that fly, is within it. All the gods, of one mind, of one purpose, rightly go together toward the single resolve.
6. My two ears fly open, my eye opens wide, and this light set in my heart opens too. My mind wanders, reaching after distant thoughts. What indeed shall I say? What indeed shall I now think?
7. All the gods, seized by fear, bowed down to you, Agni, standing in the darkness. May Vaiśvānara protect us for our aid; may the immortal one protect us for our aid.
Translator's note: verses 2–3 turn on a weaving riddle (tantu/otu, "warp"/"weft") whose referent is left deliberately unstated in the Sanskrit — likely the ordering of ritual speech or of cosmic law; the ambiguity is preserved rather than resolved. In verse 5, "kam" is rendered as an emphatic particle rather than translated as a separate word. In verse 3, "paro anyena paśyan" ("seeing beyond with the other") is left as the Sanskrit leaves it — without specifying what the "other" (eye, faculty, or self) is.
Colophon
Rigveda VI.9 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.9
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.
ahaś ca kṛṣṇam ahar arjunaṁ ca vi vartete rajasī vedyābhiḥ |
vaiśvānaro jāyamāno na rājāvātiraj jyotiṣāgnis tamāṁsi || 1 ||
nāhaṁ tantuṁ na vi jānāmy otuṁ na yaṁ vayanti samare 'tamānāḥ |
kasya svit putra iha vaktvāni paro vadāty avareṇa pitrā || 2 ||
sa it tantuṁ sa vi jānāty otuṁ sa vaktvāny ṛtuthā vadāti |
ya īṁ ciketad amṛtasya gopā avaś caran paro anyena paśyan || 3 ||
ayaṁ hotā prathamaḥ paśyatemam idaṁ jyotir amṛtam martyeṣu |
ayaṁ sa jajñe dhruva ā niṣatto 'martyas tanvā3 vardhamānaḥ || 4 ||
dhruvaṁ jyotir nihitaṁ dṛśaye kam mano javiṣṭham patayatsv antaḥ |
viśve devāḥ samanasaḥ saketā ekaṁ kratum abhi vi yanti sādhu || 5 ||
vi me karṇā patayato vi cakṣur vī3daṁ jyotir hṛdaya āhitaṁ yat |
vi me manaś carati dūraādhīḥ kiṁ svid vakṣyāmi kim u nū maniṣye || 6 ||
viśve devā anamasyan bhiyānās tvām agne tamasi tasthivāṁsam |
vaiśvānaro 'vatūtaye no 'martyo 'vatūtaye naḥ || 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).