Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VII.11 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 is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
1. You are great, the herald of the sacrifice; without you the immortals do not rejoice. Come here together in one chariot with all the gods; sit down here, Agni, as the first priest.
2. The oblation-bearing men always call on you, swift one, for your errand to the gods. Agni, for the one whose sacred grass you sit upon together with the gods, his days become good days.
3. Even three times by night the gods have discerned treasures within you, for the worshipping mortal. As Manu did, Agni, worship the gods here; be our messenger, our protector from false accusation.
4. Agni rules the great sacrifice; Agni rules the whole of the oblation that is made. The Vasus delight in his ritual skill; so the gods have made him the carrier of the offering.
5. Agni, bring the gods here to eat the oblation; with Indra as their chief, let them rejoice here. Place this sacrifice in heaven among the gods; protect us always, all of you, with blessings.
Translator's note: "abhiśastipāvāḥ" (v.3) is read as "protector from false accusation / curse," a compound not fully certain in its exact force but clear in its general sense of warding off calumny. "Vasavaḥ" (v.4) is left as the proper name Vasus, a class of gods associated with Agni.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.11 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.11
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.
mahām̐ asy adhvarasya praketo na ṛte tvad amṛtā mādayante |
ā viśvebhiḥ sarathaṁ yāhi devair ny agne hotā prathamaḥ sadeha || 1 ||
tvām īḻate ajiraṁ dūtyāya haviṣmantaḥ sadam in mānuṣāsaḥ |
yasya devair āsado barhir agne 'hāny asmai sudinā bhavanti || 2 ||
triś cid aktoḥ pra cikitur vasūni tve antar dāśuṣe martyāya |
manuṣvad agna iha yakṣi devān bhavā no dūto abhiśastipāvā || 3 ||
agnir īśe bṛhato adhvarasyāgnir viśvasya haviṣaḥ kṛtasya |
kratuṁ hy asya vasavo juṣantāthā devā dadhire havyavāham || 4 ||
āgne vaha haviradyāya devān indrajyeṣṭhāsa iha mādayantām |
imaṁ yajñaṁ divi deveṣu dhehi yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 5 ||
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).