Hymn to Agni

Rigveda VII.14 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. To Jātavedas, the god, with kindling wood and with invocations to the gods — with oblations, to the bright-flaming one, bowing low, we would offer — to Agni.

2. We, Agni, would serve you with kindling wood; we would give with fine praise, worshipful one; we with ghee serve you, priest of the rite; we, bright-flaming god, with oblation.

3. Come to us, Agni, together with the gods, to our invocation of the gods, taking pleasure in the vaṣaṭ-call. May we be the ones who give to you, the god. Protect us always, all you gods, with your blessings.

Translator's note: verse 3's closing line shifts address from Agni alone ("you") to the gods as a group ("yūyam," plural "you"), asking for their collective protection — this shift is preserved from the Sanskrit rather than smoothed over.

Colophon

Rigveda VII.14 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.14

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.

samidhā jātavedase devāya devahūtibhiḥ |
havirbhiḥ śukraśociṣe namasvino vayaṁ dāśemāgnaye || 1 ||

vayaṁ te agne samidhā vidhema vayaṁ dāśema suṣṭutī yajatra |
vayaṁ ghṛtenādhvarasya hotar vayaṁ deva haviṣā bhadraśoce || 2 ||

ā no devebhir upa devahūtim agne yāhi vaṣaṭkṛtiṁ juṣāṇaḥ |
tubhyaṁ devāya dāśataḥ syāma 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).