Hymn to Indra and Agni
Rigveda VII.94 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. This ancient praise-hymn of this prayer, O Indra and Agni, has arisen for you two like rain from a cloud.
2. Hear the singer's call, O Indra and Agni; take pleasure in the songs. Being masters of all, swell our insights with abundance.
3. Do not give us over to wickedness, O heroes Indra and Agni, nor to curse; do not hand us over to scorn.
4. To Indra and Agni we send up great homage, we send forth a well-wrought praise, with thought and with song, seeking their help.
5. For those two the inspired poets have always thus called out, eagerly, for help, for the winning of strength.
6. With songs, full of wonder, bringing offerings, we call on you two, desiring to gain reward at the rite.
7. O Indra and Agni, come to us with help, you two who overpower the peoples; let no evil-speaker rule over us.
8. Let the harm of no hostile mortal reach us; O Indra and Agni, grant us shelter.
9. The wealth of cattle and gold, and of horses too, which we beg of you — O Indra and Agni, may we win that.
10. When, at the pressed soma, the worshippers have called again and again on Indra and Agni, the two with their yoked steeds, honoring them.
11. With hymns we seek to draw near the two best slayers of Vṛtra, who, delighted even by the song, are won over with loud shouts of praise.
12. May you two indeed strike down the evil-speaking, foolish, demon-ridden mortal — strike the coiling one with a blow, strike the water-hoarder with a blow.
Translator's note: verse 12 names two targets, "ābhogam" and "udadhim," with terms that likely denote demonic figures — something like "the encircling one" and "the water-withholder" — rather than ordinary nouns; the exact referents are uncertain, so they are rendered conservatively here.
Colophon
Rigveda VII.94 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.94
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.
iyaṁ vām asya manmana indrāgnī pūrvyastutiḥ |
abhrād vṛṣṭir ivājani || 1 ||
śṛṇutaṁ jaritur havam indrāgnī vanataṁ giraḥ |
īśānā pipyataṁ dhiyaḥ || 2 ||
mā pāpatvāya no narendrāgnī mābhiśastaye |
mā no rīradhataṁ nide || 3 ||
indre agnā namo bṛhat suvṛktim erayāmahe |
dhiyā dhenā avasyavaḥ || 4 ||
tā hi śaśvanta īḻata itthā viprāsa ūtaye |
sabādho vājasātaye || 5 ||
tā vāṁ gīrbhir vipanyavaḥ prayasvanto havāmahe |
medhasātā saniṣyavaḥ || 6 ||
indrāgnī avasā gatam asmabhyaṁ carṣaṇīsahā |
mā no duḥśaṁsa īśata || 7 ||
mā kasya no araruṣo dhūrtiḥ praṇaṅ martyasya |
indrāgnī śarma yacchatam || 8 ||
gomad dhiraṇyavad vasu yad vām aśvāvad īmahe |
indrāgnī tad vanemahi || 9 ||
yat soma ā sute nara indrāgnī ajohavuḥ |
saptīvantā saparyavaḥ || 10 ||
ukthebhir vṛtrahantamā yā mandānā cid ā girā |
āṅgūṣair āvivāsataḥ || 11 ||
tāv id duḥśaṁsam martyaṁ durvidvāṁsaṁ rakṣasvinam |
ābhogaṁ hanmanā hatam udadhiṁ hanmanā hatam || 12 ||
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).