Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VII.4 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. Bring forward your oblation and your well-purified hymn to Agni, the bright-shining one, who moves with his knowledge among all the generations of gods and of men.
2. Let Agni be wise even though young — the youngest, just born from his mother. Bright-toothed, he joins with the kindling wood and at once consumes food, however abundant.
3. In the gathering, in the presence of this god whom mortals have grasped as the bright, gleaming one — he who declared the hold of men, Agni blazed for the man in his hard-to-reach dwelling.
4. This wise one, perceptive among the unperceiving, immortal Agni, has been set down among mortals. May he not deceive us here, O mighty one; may we always be well-disposed toward you.
5. He who has settled into the seat the gods made for him — for by his power Agni has surpassed the immortals — him, the all-nourishing offspring, the plants and the forest trees and the earth carry.
6. For Agni rules over abundant immortality; he rules over wealth, the giver of good strength. O mighty one, may we not, lacking men, lacking increase, lacking portion, be shut out from you.
7. May we be lords of lasting wealth, not the wealth of the stranger that must be won by siege. O Agni, nothing foreign remains with us; do not let the path of the unthinking lead us astray.
8. For a stranger, one born of another womb, is no good ally to hold onto or to trust in mind. So indeed he goes back again to his own home. May the victorious, prize-bearing one come to us anew.
9. You, O Agni, protect us from the malicious; and you, O mighty one, protect us from disgrace. May the offering-path reach you together, and enviable, thousandfold wealth.
10. Shine these blessings on us, O Agni; may we also attain wise purpose. May all good things belong to those who praise and to the one who sings. Protect us always with blessings, all you gods.
Translator's note: several phrases in this hymn are archaic compounds whose sense is disputed. Verse 3's "durokam" (rendered "hard-to-reach dwelling") and verse 6's string of negated compounds ("avīrāḥ," "apsavaḥ," "māduvaḥ," rendered "lacking men, lacking increase, lacking portion") are conservative renderings of genuinely obscure Vedic terms. Verse 9's "dhvasmanvat pāthaḥ" (rendered "offering-path") is similarly uncertain — it may describe a dust-laden path or drink-offering rather than an abstract "path."
Colophon
Rigveda VII.4 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.4
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.
pra vaḥ śukrāya bhānave bharadhvaṁ havyam matiṁ cāgnaye supūtam |
yo daivyāni mānuṣā janūṁṣy antar viśvāni vidmanā jigāti || 1 ||
sa gṛtso agnis taruṇaś cid astu yato yaviṣṭho ajaniṣṭa mātuḥ |
saṁ yo vanā yuvate śucidan bhūri cid annā sam id atti sadyaḥ || 2 ||
asya devasya saṁsady anīke yam martāsaḥ śyetaṁ jagṛbhre |
ni yo gṛbham pauruṣeyīm uvoca durokam agnir āyave śuśoca || 3 ||
ayaṁ kavir akaviṣu pracetā marteṣv agnir amṛto ni dhāyi |
sa mā no atra juhuraḥ sahasvaḥ sadā tve sumanasaḥ syāma || 4 ||
ā yo yoniṁ devakṛtaṁ sasāda kratvā hy a1gnir amṛtām̐ atārīt |
tam oṣadhīś ca vaninaś ca garbham bhūmiś ca viśvadhāyasam bibharti || 5 ||
īśe hy a1gnir amṛtasya bhūrer īśe rāyaḥ suvīryasya dātoḥ |
mā tvā vayaṁ sahasāvann avīrā māpsavaḥ pari ṣadāma māduvaḥ || 6 ||
pariṣadyaṁ hy araṇasya rekṇo nityasya rāyaḥ patayaḥ syāma |
na śeṣo agne anyajātam asty acetānasya mā patho vi dukṣaḥ || 7 ||
nahi grabhāyāraṇaḥ suśevo 'nyodaryo manasā mantavā u |
adhā cid okaḥ punar it sa ety ā no vājy abhīṣāḻ etu navyaḥ || 8 ||
tvam agne vanuṣyato ni pāhi tvam u naḥ sahasāvann avadyāt |
saṁ tvā dhvasmanvad abhy etu pāthaḥ saṁ rayiḥ spṛhayāyyaḥ sahasrī || 9 ||
etā no agne saubhagā didīhy api kratuṁ sucetasaṁ vatema |
viśvā stotṛbhyo gṛṇate ca santu yūyam pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ || 10 ||
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).