Hymn to Agni Vaiśvānara

Rigveda VII.13 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. Offer up a hymn, a thought, to Agni the all-radiant, the thought-kindler, the slayer of demons — bring it as one brings an oblation onto the sacred grass, pleasing him — to Vaiśvānara, ruler of our prayers.

2. You, Agni, blazing with your own flame, filled the two world-halves, heaven and earth, the very moment you were born. You freed the gods from curse, Vaiśvānara, Knower of All Beings, by your greatness.

3. When you were born, Agni, you looked out over the worlds like a watchful, wide-ranging herdsman over his cattle. Vaiśvānara, find a path for our sacred word. Protect us always with your blessings.

Translator's note: "yataye matīnām" (1) literally names Agni as one who "controls" or "guides" thoughts/prayers; rendered here as "ruler of our prayers." The closing line of verse 3, "yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ" ("protect us always with blessings"), is a stock Rigvedic refrain that uses a plural verb form even though this hymn addresses Agni alone — a formulaic survival from hymns addressed to groups of gods.

Colophon

Rigveda VII.13 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.13

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.

prāgnaye viśvaśuce dhiyaṁdhe 'suraghne manma dhītim bharadhvam |
bhare havir na barhiṣi prīṇāno vaiśvānarāya yataye matīnām || 1 ||

tvam agne śociṣā śośucāna ā rodasī apṛṇā jāyamānaḥ |
tvaṁ devām̐ abhiśaster amuñco vaiśvānara jātavedo mahitvā || 2 ||

jāto yad agne bhuvanā vy akhyaḥ paśūn na gopā iryaḥ parijmā |
vaiśvānara brahmaṇe vinda gātuṁ yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 3 ||

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).