Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VII.27 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. Men call upon Indra with earnest devotion, when they yoke those decisive hymns of theirs. The hero, delighting in his strength in the contest of men — give us our share in the cattle-pen filled with cows.
2. Whatever fury of strength is yours, Indra, bountiful and much-invoked one — grant it to your friends, to the men. For you, discerning and bountiful one, break open the firm strongholds; uncover the bounty that lies hidden, shut away.
3. Indra is king of the moving world, of the peoples, over the earth, over whatever exists in its many forms. From there he gives goods to the one who has made offering; when praised, he sends bounty forth to us.
4. Surely now Indra, the bountiful one, called upon together with us, the giver, does not withhold the prize from us — with his help. His largesse, undiminished, has swelled forth — good things for the men, for his friends, drawing near to them.
5. Now, Indra, make room for us, for wealth — may we turn your mind toward bounty. Desiring wealth rich in cows, horses, and chariots — may you all protect us always with blessings.
Translator's note: "nemadhitā" (verse 1) and "parivṛtaṁ" (verse 2) are rare, difficult words; they are rendered conservatively here as "earnest devotion" and "hidden, shut away" respectively, following their most plausible root senses rather than a confident gloss. The closing line of verse 5 ("yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ," "may you all protect us always with blessings") is a fixed refrain addressed to the gods in the plural, even though the hymn otherwise addresses Indra alone.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.27 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.27
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.
indraṁ naro nemadhitā havante yat pāryā yunajate dhiyas tāḥ |
śūro nṛṣātā śavasaś cakāna ā gomati vraje bhajā tvaṁ naḥ || 1 ||
ya indra śuṣmo maghavan te asti śikṣā sakhibhyaḥ puruhūta nṛbhyaḥ |
tvaṁ hi dṛḻhā maghavan vicetā apā vṛdhi parivṛtaṁ na rādhaḥ || 2 ||
indro rājā jagataś carṣaṇīnām adhi kṣami viṣurūpaṁ yad asti |
tato dadāti dāśuṣe vasūni codad rādha upastutaś cid arvāk || 3 ||
nū cin na indro maghavā sahūtī dāno vājaṁ ni yamate na ūtī |
anūnā yasya dakṣiṇā pīpāya vāmaṁ nṛbhyo abhivītā sakhibhyaḥ || 4 ||
nū indra rāye varivas kṛdhī na ā te mano vavṛtyāma maghāya |
gomad aśvāvad rathavad vyanto 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).