Hymn to Indra and Soma: Against Sorcerers and Demons
Rigveda VII.104 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 7 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 hymn calls on Indra and Soma to burn, crush, and drive off sorcerers (yātudhānas), flesh-eating demons (rakṣas), and speakers of falsehood, while the speaker also protests his own innocence against those who might falsely accuse him of sorcery.
1. Indra and Soma, burn the demon, crush him, cast down, O mighty bulls, those who thrive in darkness. Shatter the senseless ones, burn them down, strike and drive them off, sharpen your weapons against the devourers.
2. Indra and Soma, against the curse-speaker let burning heat go forth like a heated pot, against evil. Against the hater of sacred speech, the flesh-eater, the terrible-eyed one — set your unrelenting hostility against the Kimidin demon.
3. Indra and Soma, cast the evildoers into the pit, into the bottomless darkness, so that not one of them ever rises from there again. Let that wrathful strength of yours prevail to overpower them.
4. Indra and Soma, hurl down the weapon of heaven, and from earth a crushing blow, against the curse-speaker. Fashion a blazing weapon out of the mountains, by which you may utterly burn up the demon grown strong.
5. Indra and Soma, hurl down from all around heaven, with fire-heated stone weapons, with burning weapons that never age, pierce the devourers in the ribs — let them go to silence.
6. Indra and Soma, let this hymn of mine encircle you on every side, like a girth-strap on a swift horse. This offering I send to you with my thought — quicken these prayers, like two lords of men.
7. Recall us and come with swift onrush — strike down the deceitful, treacherous demon. Indra and Soma, let there be no easy road for the evildoer, whoever at any time seeks to harm us through deceit.
8. Whoever accuses me — going about with simple, innocent mind — with false words, let him become as nothing, like water caught in a reed sieve; let the speaker of falsehood be un-being, O Indra.
9. Those who by their ways assail the innocent speaker, or who corrupt what is good with their own dark powers — let Soma hand them over to the serpent, or place them in the lap of Nirṛti.
10. Whoever seeks to steal the essence of our food, O Agni, of our horses, our cattle, our own bodies — that enemy, that thief, that doer of theft, let him come to nothing; let him be brought low, in body and in progeny.
11. Let him be cast far away, in body and in offspring; let him be beneath all three earths. Let his glory wither, O gods — whoever seeks to harm us by day or by night.
12. Easy to discern for the person of insight: truth and falsehood, two speeches, contend with each other. Of the two, whichever is true, whichever is more straightforward — that is what Soma favors; he strikes down the false one.
13. Soma does not favor the crooked one, nor the ruler who upholds deceit. He slays the demon, he slays the speaker of falsehood — both lie caught in Indra's snare.
14. But if I have been a false worshipper, or have vainly disregarded the gods, Agni — why then would you be angry at us, O Jātavedas? Let the deceitful speakers meet their own destruction instead.
15. Let me die today if I am a sorcerer, or if I have consumed away a man's life-breath. But let him be cut off from his ten sons who falsely calls me a sorcerer.
16. Whoever calls me a sorcerer when I am not, or who, being a demon, says "I am pure" — let Indra strike him down with his great weapon; let him fall, the lowest of all beings.
17. She who moves by night like a bat, hiding her form with deceit — let her fall into the bottomless pit. Let the pressing-stones slay the demons with their crashing.
18. Spread out among the peoples, O Maruts, seek them out; seize the demons, grind them down — those who become birds and fly by night, or who plot harm against the sacred rite.
19. Hurl the stone from heaven, Indra; sharpen it, soma-whetted, O bounteous one. From the east, from the west, from below, from above — strike the demons down with your mountain-weapon.
20. Now those wolf-demons fly forth; the deceivers seek to harm Indra, who cannot be deceived. The mighty one sharpens his weapon against the malicious; now let him loose his bolt against the sorcerers.
21. Indra became the destroyer of sorcerers, of those who plunder the offering and press upon us. The mighty one attacked like an axe on a forest, shattering the demons like pots, he goes forth against those that are.
22. Slay the owl-sorcerer, the screech-owl-sorcerer, slay the dog-sorcerer and the wolf-sorcerer, the eagle-sorcerer and the vulture-sorcerer — crush the demon as with a grinding-stone, O Indra.
23. Let no demon among the sorcery-wielders reach us; let the Kimidin pair vanish into the dark. Let earth protect us from earthly harm, let the mid-air protect us from harm out of heaven.
24. Indra, slay the male sorcerer, and the woman who prevails through her magic. Let the fools who worship false gods go broken-necked to ruin; let them not see the sun rise.
25. Look about, look everywhere; Indra and Soma, stay watchful. Hurl your weapon at the demons, your thunderbolt at the sorcerers.
Translator's note: verse 8's "kāśinā" (rendered "reed sieve") and verse 17's "khargalā" (rendered "bat") are rare, uncertain words glossed conservatively from context and cognates. Verse 9's "ahaye" ("to the serpent") likely names Ahi as an agent of destruction rather than a mundane snake. "Yātudhāna" is rendered "sorcerer" throughout and "rakṣas" as "demon"; the two terms overlap in the hymn and are not always sharply distinguished in the Sanskrit itself.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.104 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 VII.104
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.
indrāsomā tapataṁ rakṣa ubjataṁ ny arpayataṁ vṛṣaṇā tamovṛdhaḥ |
parā śṛṇītam acito ny oṣataṁ hataṁ nudethāṁ ni śiśītam atriṇaḥ || 1 ||
indrāsomā sam aghaśaṁsam abhy a1ghaṁ tapur yayastu carur agnivām̐ iva |
brahmadviṣe kravyāde ghoracakṣase dveṣo dhattam anavāyaṁ kimīdine || 2 ||
indrāsomā duṣkṛto vavre antar anārambhaṇe tamasi pra vidhyatam |
yathā nātaḥ punar ekaś canodayat tad vām astu sahase manyumac chavaḥ || 3 ||
indrāsomā vartayataṁ divo vadhaṁ sam pṛthivyā aghaśaṁsāya tarhaṇam |
ut takṣataṁ svarya1m parvatebhyo yena rakṣo vāvṛdhānaṁ nijūrvathaḥ || 4 ||
indrāsomā vartayataṁ divas pary agnitaptebhir yuvam aśmahanmabhiḥ |
tapurvadhebhir ajarebhir atriṇo ni parśāne vidhyataṁ yantu nisvaram || 5 ||
indrāsomā pari vām bhūtu viśvata iyam matiḥ kakṣyāśveva vājinā |
yāṁ vāṁ hotrām parihinomi medhayemā brahmāṇi nṛpatīva jinvatam || 6 ||
prati smarethāṁ tujayadbhir evair hataṁ druho rakṣaso bhaṅgurāvataḥ |
indrāsomā duṣkṛte mā sugam bhūd yo naḥ kadā cid abhidāsati druhā || 7 ||
yo mā pākena manasā carantam abhicaṣṭe anṛtebhir vacobhiḥ |
āpa iva kāśinā saṁgṛbhītā asann astv āsata indra vaktā || 8 ||
ye pākaśaṁsaṁ viharanta evair ye vā bhadraṁ dūṣayanti svadhābhiḥ |
ahaye vā tān pradadātu soma ā vā dadhātu nirṛter upasthe || 9 ||
yo no rasaṁ dipsati pitvo agne yo aśvānāṁ yo gavāṁ yas tanūnām |
ripuḥ stenaḥ steyakṛd dabhram etu ni ṣa hīyatāṁ tanvā3 tanā ca || 10 ||
paraḥ so astu tanvā3 tanā ca tisraḥ pṛthivīr adho astu viśvāḥ |
prati śuṣyatu yaśo asya devā yo no divā dipsati yaś ca naktam || 11 ||
suvijñānaṁ cikituṣe janāya sac cāsac ca vacasī paspṛdhāte |
tayor yat satyaṁ yatarad ṛjīyas tad it somo 'vati hanty āsat || 12 ||
na vā u somo vṛjinaṁ hinoti na kṣatriyam mithuyā dhārayantam |
hanti rakṣo hanty āsad vadantam ubhāv indrasya prasitau śayāte || 13 ||
yadi vāham anṛtadeva āsa moghaṁ vā devām̐ apyūhe agne |
kim asmabhyaṁ jātavedo hṛṇīṣe droghavācas te nirṛthaṁ sacantām || 14 ||
adyā murīya yadi yātudhāno asmi yadi vāyus tatapa pūruṣasya |
adhā sa vīrair daśabhir vi yūyā yo mā moghaṁ yātudhānety āha || 15 ||
yo māyātuṁ yātudhānety āha yo vā rakṣāḥ śucir asmīty āha |
indras taṁ hantu mahatā vadhena viśvasya jantor adhamas padīṣṭa || 16 ||
pra yā jigāti khargaleva naktam apa druhā tanva1ṁ gūhamānā |
vavrām̐ anantām̐ ava sā padīṣṭa grāvāṇo ghnantu rakṣasa upabdaiḥ || 17 ||
vi tiṣṭhadhvam maruto vikṣv i1cchata gṛbhāyata rakṣasaḥ sam pinaṣṭana |
vayo ye bhūtvī patayanti naktabhir ye vā ripo dadhire deve adhvare || 18 ||
pra vartaya divo aśmānam indra somaśitam maghavan saṁ śiśādhi |
prāktād apāktād adharād udaktād abhi jahi rakṣasaḥ parvatena || 19 ||
eta u tye patayanti śvayātava indraṁ dipsanti dipsavo 'dābhyam |
śiśīte śakraḥ piśunebhyo vadhaṁ nūnaṁ sṛjad aśaniṁ yātumadbhyaḥ || 20 ||
indro yātūnām abhavat parāśaro havirmathīnām abhy ā3vivāsatām |
abhīd u śakraḥ paraśur yathā vanam pātreva bhindan sata eti rakṣasaḥ || 21 ||
ulūkayātuṁ śuśulūkayātuṁ jahi śvayātum uta kokayātum |
suparṇayātum uta gṛdhrayātuṁ dṛṣadeva pra mṛṇa rakṣa indra || 22 ||
mā no rakṣo abhi naḍ yātumāvatām apocchatu mithunā yā kimīdinā |
pṛthivī naḥ pārthivāt pātv aṁhaso 'ntarikṣaṁ divyāt pātv asmān || 23 ||
indra jahi pumāṁsaṁ yātudhānam uta striyam māyayā śāśadānām |
vigrīvāso mūradevā ṛdantu mā te dṛśan sūryam uccarantam || 24 ||
prati cakṣva vi cakṣvendraś ca soma jāgṛtam |
rakṣobhyo vadham asyatam aśaniṁ yātumadbhyaḥ || 25 ||
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).