Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.1 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 8 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. Do not praise anything else, friends — do not come to harm. Praise Indra alone, the bull, together with the pressed soma, and speak your hymns again and again.
2. The bellowing bull, ageless as a bull, overpowering the tribes; hateful to his foes, winning favor on both sides, most bounteous, possessor of both kinds of wealth.
3. Even though these many peoples, each in their own way, call on you for help — let this prayer of ours, Indra, be for you, strengthening you every day.
4. The thoughts of the wise, of the noble one's people, are contending with one another, O bounteous one. Step forward; bring the many-shaped prize, the nearest one, for our help.
5. Not even for a great price would I give you away, O wielder of the pressing-stone; not for a thousand, not for ten thousand, O thunderbolt-armed one, not for a hundred, O you of a hundred bounties.
6. You are better to me, Indra, than a father, or a brother who shares nothing. You and my mother alike satisfy me, O good one, equally, for the giving of wealth.
7. Where do you wander, where are you? Truly your mind is in many places at once. You have set out, O warrior, stirrer of the fray, breaker of strongholds — the singers have raised their Gāyatrī hymns.
8. Sing the Gāyatrī hymn to him, the fort-breaker, who has shown favor — by these songs may the thunderbolt-bearer come to sit on Kaṇva's sacred grass, he who split open the strongholds.
9. Those horses of yours that come by tens, by hundreds, by thousands, those swift-running stallions of yours — with them come quickly to us.
10. Today I call on the one who streams forth like the heaven-cow, who thrills at the Gāyatrī song — Indra, the good-milking cow, a further nourishment with wide-flowing streams, well made ready.
11. When the sun goaded on Etaśa, the two swift ones with the feathered strength of the wind — Śatakratu, of a hundred powers, carried Kutsa, son of Arjuna, and stole up on the unconquered Gandharva.
12. He who once, without prior injury, tore the bonds loose from the shoulders — the bounteous one, rich in wealth, is the joiner of the joint, the restorer, again, of what was wrenched apart.
13. May we not become like strangers to you, Indra, like ones estranged from you, O wielder of the stone; we have thought of ourselves as abandoned trees, as those given poor shelter.
14. We have thought ourselves neither swift nor fierce, O Vṛtra-slayer; may we, just this once, O hero, rejoice in praise-song through your great bounty.
15. If Indra should hear this praise-song of ours, may the swift drops, having run through the filter, delight him — the strengtheners who once aided Tugra's son.
16. Come today to the shared praise, favored as a friend; may the praise-song of the bounteous ones speed you here — and I wish you now a good hymn of praise.
17. The presser presses the soma with the stones; wash it clean in the waters; the men, clothing it as if in a garment of milk, draw it forth from the streams.
18. Then, whether from the earth or from the lofty luminous realm of heaven, grow greater in body through this song; fill what has been born from me, O wise one.
19. Press for Indra the most intoxicating, most excellent soma; may the mighty one swell with it, through every thought, driving it on like one eager for the prize.
20. May I not, forever begging you with a flowing song for soma, provoke your anger — restless as a wild beast at the pressings. Who would not beg the ruling lord?
21. With rapture roused by rapture, fierce with fierce strength, the overcomer of all, shaken loose in his rapture — for it is in rapture that he gives to us.
22. In his joyful dwelling the god gives many desired things to the mortal who makes offering; he gives to the presser and to the praiser alike — he, praised by all, praised beyond harm.
23. Come, Indra; rejoice, god, in your bright bounty. You fill your broad belly with the soma drunk together, as a lake fills.
24. May a thousand, a hundred tawny horses, yoked by our prayer, maned, carry you, Indra, in your golden chariot to the drinking of soma.
25. May the two tawny horses, plume-tailed, white-backed, carry you in your golden chariot, to the drinking of the sweet, swelling draught.
26. Drink, then, of this, O lover of song, of the pressed juice, as the first drinker once did; this well-prepared, flavorful mixture stands ready, pleasing, for your rapture.
27. He who alone is great in mighty deeds, fierce in his own ordinances — let the strong-jawed one come; he will not fail; he will come to the call; he does not turn away.
28. You shattered the moving stronghold of Śuṣṇa with your weapons; you moved on by the light, then twice over, when, Indra, you were called upon.
29. At my sunrise, at my midday of heaven, at my dusk drawing toward night — O good one, my praise-songs have turned toward you.
30. Praise him, praise him indeed! These are truly the most bounteous among the generous. The one whose horse is unjustly blamed, the far-traveler, greatest in his bounty — O Medhyātithi.
31. When, in trust, I mounted the chariot of the one who wins horses, then he takes note of the fine wealth — whatever livestock belongs to the line of Yadu.
32. He who has given me two bright horses, together with a golden covering — may this resounding chariot of Asaṅga prevail over all, and bring good fortune.
33. Then the son of Plāyogi, Āsaṅga, has outgiven all other givers with ten thousand gifts, O Agni; ten shining bulls stood forth for me, like reeds rising from a lake.
34. His massive one was seen from in front, boneless, thick, hanging low; every woman, looking on, cried out: "You bear a truly splendid, lordly bounty."
Translator's note: verses 12, 25, and 33–34 contain compounds and mythic allusions (a joint-mending image, "peacock/plume-tailed" horses, and the closing riddle-like description of a bull given in the dānastuti) whose precise sense is debated among scholars; they are rendered here conservatively, word by word, rather than resolved by guesswork. Verses 30–34 shift from praise of Indra into a dānastuti (gift-praise) naming the poet Medhyātithi and the patron Asaṅga, son of Plāyogi — a standard closing convention in Rigvedic hymns.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.1 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 VIII.1
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.
mā cid anyad vi śaṁsata sakhāyo mā riṣaṇyata |
indram it stotā vṛṣaṇaṁ sacā sute muhur ukthā ca śaṁsata || 1 ||
avakrakṣiṇaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ yathājuraṁ gāṁ na carṣaṇīsaham |
vidveṣaṇaṁ saṁvananobhayaṁkaram maṁhiṣṭham ubhayāvinam || 2 ||
yac cid dhi tvā janā ime nānā havanta ūtaye |
asmākam brahmedam indra bhūtu te 'hā viśvā ca vardhanam || 3 ||
vi tartūryante maghavan vipaścito 'ryo vipo janānām |
upa kramasva pururūpam ā bhara vājaṁ nediṣṭham ūtaye || 4 ||
mahe cana tvām adrivaḥ parā śulkāya deyām |
na sahasrāya nāyutāya vajrivo na śatāya śatāmagha || 5 ||
vasyām̐ indrāsi me pitur uta bhrātur abhuñjataḥ |
mātā ca me chadayathaḥ samā vaso vasutvanāya rādhase || 6 ||
kveyatha kved asi purutrā cid dhi te manaḥ |
alarṣi yudhma khajakṛt puraṁdara pra gāyatrā agāsiṣuḥ || 7 ||
prāsmai gāyatram arcata vāvātur yaḥ puraṁdaraḥ |
yābhiḥ kāṇvasyopa barhir āsadaṁ yāsad vajrī bhinat puraḥ || 8 ||
ye te santi daśagvinaḥ śatino ye sahasriṇaḥ |
aśvāso ye te vṛṣaṇo raghudruvas tebhir nas tūyam ā gahi || 9 ||
ā tv a1dya sabardughāṁ huve gāyatravepasam |
indraṁ dhenuṁ sudughām anyām iṣam urudhārām araṁkṛtam || 10 ||
yat tudat sūra etaśaṁ vaṅkū vātasya parṇinā |
vahat kutsam ārjuneyaṁ śatakratuḥ tsarad gandharvam astṛtam || 11 ||
ya ṛte cid abhiśriṣaḥ purā jatrubhya ātṛdaḥ |
saṁdhātā saṁdhim maghavā purūvasur iṣkartā vihrutam punaḥ || 12 ||
mā bhūma niṣṭyā ivendra tvad araṇā iva |
vanāni na prajahitāny adrivo duroṣāso amanmahi || 13 ||
amanmahīd anāśavo 'nugrāsaś ca vṛtrahan |
sakṛt su te mahatā śūra rādhasā anu stomam mudīmahi || 14 ||
yadi stomam mama śravad asmākam indram indavaḥ |
tiraḥ pavitraṁ sasṛvāṁsa āśavo mandantu tugryāvṛdhaḥ || 15 ||
ā tv a1dya sadhastutiṁ vāvātuḥ sakhyur ā gahi |
upastutir maghonām pra tvāvatv adhā te vaśmi suṣṭutim || 16 ||
sotā hi somam adribhir em enam apsu dhāvata |
gavyā vastreva vāsayanta in naro nir dhukṣan vakṣaṇābhyaḥ || 17 ||
adha jmo adha vā divo bṛhato rocanād adhi |
ayā vardhasva tanvā girā mamā jātā sukrato pṛṇa || 18 ||
indrāya su madintamaṁ somaṁ sotā vareṇyam |
śakra eṇam pīpayad viśvayā dhiyā hinvānaṁ na vājayum || 19 ||
mā tvā somasya galdayā sadā yācann ahaṁ girā |
bhūrṇim mṛgaṁ na savaneṣu cukrudhaṁ ka īśānaṁ na yāciṣat || 20 ||
madeneṣitam madam ugram ugreṇa śavasā |
viśveṣāṁ tarutāram madacyutam made hi ṣmā dadāti naḥ || 21 ||
śevāre vāryā puru devo martāya dāśuṣe |
sa sunvate ca stuvate ca rāsate viśvagūrto ariṣṭutaḥ || 22 ||
endra yāhi matsva citreṇa deva rādhasā |
saro na prāsy udaraṁ sapītibhir ā somebhir uru sphiram || 23 ||
ā tvā sahasram ā śataṁ yuktā rathe hiraṇyaye |
brahmayujo haraya indra keśino vahantu somapītaye || 24 ||
ā tvā rathe hiraṇyaye harī mayūraśepyā |
śitipṛṣṭhā vahatām madhvo andhaso vivakṣaṇasya pītaye || 25 ||
pibā tv a1sya girvaṇaḥ sutasya pūrvapā iva |
pariṣkṛtasya rasina iyam āsutiś cārur madāya patyate || 26 ||
ya eko asti daṁsanā mahām̐ ugro abhi vrataiḥ |
gamat sa śiprī na sa yoṣad ā gamad dhavaṁ na pari varjati || 27 ||
tvam puraṁ cariṣṇvaṁ vadhaiḥ śuṣṇasya sam piṇak |
tvam bhā anu caro adha dvitā yad indra havyo bhuvaḥ || 28 ||
mama tvā sūra udite mama madhyaṁdine divaḥ |
mama prapitve apiśarvare vasav ā stomāso avṛtsata || 29 ||
stuhi stuhīd ete ghā te maṁhiṣṭhāso maghonām |
ninditāśvaḥ prapathī paramajyā maghasya medhyātithe || 30 ||
ā yad aśvān vananvataḥ śraddhayāhaṁ rathe ruham |
uta vāmasya vasunaś ciketati yo asti yādvaḥ paśuḥ || 31 ||
ya ṛjrā mahyam māmahe saha tvacā hiraṇyayā |
eṣa viśvāny abhy astu saubhagāsaṅgasya svanadrathaḥ || 32 ||
adha plāyogir ati dāsad anyān āsaṅgo agne daśabhiḥ sahasraiḥ |
adhokṣaṇo daśa mahyaṁ ruśanto naḻā iva saraso nir atiṣṭhan || 33 ||
anv asya sthūraṁ dadṛśe purastād anastha ūrur avarambamāṇaḥ |
śaśvatī nāry abhicakṣyāha subhadram arya bhojanam bibharṣi || 34 ||
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).