Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.37 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. You have favored this prayer in the battles against Vṛtra; you have favored the one who presses the soma, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
2. Overcoming the hostile war-bands, O mighty one, against the deceivers, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
3. As sole sovereign you rule over this world, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
4. You alone keep the two contending sides apart, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
5. You hold power over both security and undertaking, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
6. You give help toward dominion; none other has given such help, O lord of might, Indra, with all your protections. Drink of the soma of the midday pressing, O Vṛtra-slayer, blameless one, O wielder of the thunderbolt.
7. Hear now the praising Śyāvāśva, just as you heard Atri performing his rites. You alone favored Trasadasyu, O Indra who overpowers men, increasing his dominions.
Translator's note: in verse 4, "sasthāvānā" (a dual form meaning roughly "the two that stand together") is rendered conservatively as "the two contending sides" — it likely refers to two opposed parties or forces Indra keeps apart, but the referent is not spelled out in the verse. In verse 6, the pairing "tvam avasi, na tvam āvitha" ("you help... not you have helped") is a terse construction understood here as a claim of unmatched help ("none other has given such help"); a more literal but less readable rendering would be "you help — no one else has helped."
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.37 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.37
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.
predam brahma vṛtratūryeṣv āvitha pra sunvataḥ śacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 1 ||
sehāna ugra pṛtanā abhi druhaḥ śacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 2 ||
ekarāḻ asya bhuvanasya rājasi śacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 3 ||
sasthāvānā yavayasi tvam eka ic chacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 4 ||
kṣemasya ca prayujaś ca tvam īśiṣe śacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 5 ||
kṣatrāya tvam avasi na tvam āvitha śacīpata indra viśvābhir ūtibhiḥ |
mādhyaṁdinasya savanasya vṛtrahann anedya pibā somasya vajrivaḥ || 6 ||
śyāvāśvasya rebhatas tathā śṛṇu yathāśṛṇor atreḥ karmāṇi kṛṇvataḥ |
pra trasadasyum āvitha tvam eka in nṛṣāhya indra kṣatrāṇi vardhayan || 7 ||
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).