Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.33 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. We indeed, possessing pressed soma, like waters, with the sacred grass laid out — O slayer of Vṛtra, the praisers sit around you at the outflowings of the purifying filter.
2. The men, the reciters of hymns, call out to you alone when the soma is pressed, O good one. When, thirsting, will you come home to the pressed soma, Indra, like a bull to its own pen?
3. With the Kaṇvas, O bold one, boldly break open the thousandfold prize; O bounteous, far-seeing one, we swiftly beg from you a tawny gift rich in cattle.
4. Drink, sing in the exhilaration of the soma-juice, for Indra, O Medhyātithi — he who is joined with his two bay steeds, who comes with the pressed soma, the mace-bearer, the golden chariot.
5. He who is skilled with the left hand and the right, the mighty one, who is praised as of good resolve, who is a mine of thousands, who holds a hundred bounties — Indra, breaker of forts, is roused to action.
6. Who is bold, who is unchecked, who rests bearded — of far-spread splendor, the shaker of things, praised by many, mighty in resolve like a strong bull.
7. Who knows him, drinking there together with the pressed soma — what vigor he takes on? This is the one who splits open the strongholds with his strength, exulting, the helmeted one, from the soma-juice.
8. Like a musth elephant, a wild beast, he ranges in many places. No one can hold you back — come to the pressed soma; great one, you move about in your strength.
9. He who, being mighty, unconquered, firm, stands equipped for battle — if the bounteous one hears the praiser's call, Indra will not hold back; he will come.
10. Truly, thus, you are indeed the bull, bull-swift, unchecked for us. For you, mighty one, are a bull renowned — a bull renowned in the distance, a bull renowned nearby.
11. Bull-strong are your reins, bull-strong your golden whip; bull-strong is your chariot, O bounteous one, bull-strong your two bay steeds — you yourself are the bull, O you of a hundred powers.
12. Let the bull-like presser press soma for you; O bull, O straight-darting one, bring it here. The bull has surged, the bull flows in the rivers, to you, O driver of the bay steeds.
13. Come, Indra, mightiest one, to drink the sweet soma-draught. Will this bounteous, wise one not hear our songs, our prayers and recitations?
14. Let the bay steeds, yoked to the chariot, carry you, standing in the chariot — past the soma-pressings of others, even a rival's, O slayer of Vṛtra, O hundred-powered one.
15. Accept today our closest praise-hymn, O greatly mighty one. Let our pressings be most pleasing to you, for your exhilaration, O celestial soma-drinker.
16. For he does not delight in the rule of anyone else — not yours, not mine — he who led us, O hero.
17. Indra himself said this: a woman's mind cannot be disciplined; her judgment, too, is light.
18. Even the paired steeds, roused together by exhilaration, draw the chariot — so indeed the yoke of the male team is the higher one.
19. Look down, not upward; draw your two feet in further; let your [uncertain] not be seen — for you, a woman, have become a brahmin.
Translator's note: Verses 16–19 form a short, separately-toned dialogue appended to the main praise-hymn; the Sanskrit itself does not name the speakers, and this translation does not supply a narrative frame beyond what the verses state. In verse 13, "nāyam acchā ... śṛṇavat" is a genuinely ambiguous construction (the particle "na" can negate or function as a simile-marker in Vedic); it is rendered here as a question to preserve that ambiguity rather than force one reading. In verse 19, "kaśaplakau" is a rare word of uncertain meaning (possibly referring to a part of the body or dress); rather than guess, it is left marked as uncertain.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.33 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.33
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.
vayaṁ gha tvā sutāvanta āpo na vṛktabarhiṣaḥ |
pavitrasya prasravaṇeṣu vṛtrahan pari stotāra āsate || 1 ||
svaranti tvā sute naro vaso nireka ukthinaḥ |
kadā sutaṁ tṛṣāṇa oka ā gama indra svabdīva vaṁsagaḥ || 2 ||
kaṇvebhir dhṛṣṇav ā dhṛṣad vājaṁ darṣi sahasriṇam |
piśaṅgarūpam maghavan vicarṣaṇe makṣū gomantam īmahe || 3 ||
pāhi gāyāndhaso mada indrāya medhyātithe |
yaḥ sammiślo haryor yaḥ sute sacā vajrī ratho hiraṇyayaḥ || 4 ||
yaḥ suṣavyaḥ sudakṣiṇa ino yaḥ sukratur gṛṇe |
ya ākaraḥ sahasrā yaḥ śatāmagha indro yaḥ pūrbhid āritaḥ || 5 ||
yo dhṛṣito yo 'vṛto yo asti śmaśruṣu śritaḥ |
vibhūtadyumnaś cyavanaḥ puruṣṭutaḥ kratvā gaur iva śākinaḥ || 6 ||
ka īṁ veda sute sacā pibantaṁ kad vayo dadhe |
ayaṁ yaḥ puro vibhinatty ojasā mandānaḥ śipry andhasaḥ || 7 ||
dānā mṛgo na vāraṇaḥ purutrā carathaṁ dadhe |
nakiṣ ṭvā ni yamad ā sute gamo mahām̐ś carasy ojasā || 8 ||
ya ugraḥ sann aniṣṭṛtaḥ sthiro raṇāya saṁskṛtaḥ |
yadi stotur maghavā śṛṇavad dhavaṁ nendro yoṣaty ā gamat || 9 ||
satyam itthā vṛṣed asi vṛṣajūtir no 'vṛtaḥ |
vṛṣā hy ugra śṛṇviṣe parāvati vṛṣo arvāvati śrutaḥ || 10 ||
vṛṣaṇas te abhīśavo vṛṣā kaśā hiraṇyayī |
vṛṣā ratho maghavan vṛṣaṇā harī vṛṣā tvaṁ śatakrato || 11 ||
vṛṣā sotā sunotu te vṛṣann ṛjīpinn ā bhara |
vṛṣā dadhanve vṛṣaṇaṁ nadīṣv ā tubhyaṁ sthātar harīṇām || 12 ||
endra yāhi pītaye madhu śaviṣṭha somyam |
nāyam acchā maghavā śṛṇavad giro brahmokthā ca sukratuḥ || 13 ||
vahantu tvā ratheṣṭhām ā harayo rathayujaḥ |
tiraś cid aryaṁ savanāni vṛtrahann anyeṣāṁ yā śatakrato || 14 ||
asmākam adyāntamaṁ stomaṁ dhiṣva mahāmaha |
asmākaṁ te savanā santu śaṁtamā madāya dyukṣa somapāḥ || 15 ||
nahi ṣas tava no mama śāstre anyasya raṇyati |
yo asmān vīra ānayat || 16 ||
indraś cid ghā tad abravīt striyā aśāsyam manaḥ |
uto aha kratuṁ raghum || 17 ||
saptī cid ghā madacyutā mithunā vahato ratham |
eved dhūr vṛṣṇa uttarā || 18 ||
adhaḥ paśyasva mopari saṁtarām pādakau hara |
mā te kaśaplakau dṛśan strī hi brahmā babhūvitha || 19 ||
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).