Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.50 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. Sing out well the famed, the generous, the mighty one, for his help — who grants desired wealth to the one who presses soma and praises him, giving as if with a thousandfold gift.
2. His weapons are a hundredfold, hard to withstand; Indra's great forces of vigor swell among the bounteous like a mountain of plenty, when the pressed soma-drops have gladdened him.
3. When the pressed drops have gladdened the beloved one, my libation is set forth like waters, O bounteous one — flowing to the worshipper like milking cows coming home to him.
4. Our prayers flow with their sweetness toward you, the blameless one, called on for help; the soma-drops, calling to you, O bounteous one, have taken their place among our hymns of praise.
5. Approach our soma at this well-ordered rite, hastening like a racehorse eager to run. The praises make it sweet for you, O relisher of sweetness; among the people you grant our call.
6. We praise the mighty hero, the discerning one, winner of wealth, abundant in great bounty — like water drawn from a well, O wielder of the thunderbolt, you have ever poured out your bounty for the worshipper.
7. Whether now far away, or on earth, or in heaven — yoking your bay steeds, O Indra of great mind, lofty one with your lofty horses, come here.
8. Your chariot-horses, the unerring bays, match the strength of the wind — with which you drive the dasyu away roaring before mortals, with which you range across the heavens.
9. May we come to know that much of your fresh bounty, O bounteous hero — as you once aided Etaśa in the decisive contest for wealth, as you aided Vaśa in the ten-cowpen contest.
10. As, O bounteous one, you acted for Kaṇva at the sacrifice, at the rite, for Dīrghanītha the house-priest — as for Gośarya, O wielder of the pressing-stone, you have won for me a cattle-stall bright with tawny splendor.
Translator's note: verse 2's "girir na bhujmā" (literally "like a mountain of enjoyment/plenty") is a compressed simile rendered conservatively here. Verse 4's enclitic "vo" ("you," 2nd person plural) sits amid otherwise singular address to Indra; the plural is kept implicit in the English rather than resolved, since the hymn gives no clear second addressee. Verse 6's "vivici" (rendered "discerning") is an uncommon epithet whose precise sense is debated. Verses 9–10 name figures and places from lost or fragmentary legend — Etaśa, Vaśa, the "ten-cowpen" (daśavraja), Kaṇva, Dīrghanītha, and Gośarya — kept as proper names since their stories are not recoverable from the hymn itself.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.50 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.50
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 su śrutaṁ surādhasam arcā śakram abhiṣṭaye |
yaḥ sunvate stuvate kāmyaṁ vasu sahasreṇeva maṁhate || 1 ||
śatānīkā hetayo asya duṣṭarā indrasya samiṣo mahīḥ |
girir na bhujmā maghavatsu pinvate yad īṁ sutā amandiṣuḥ || 2 ||
yad īṁ sutāsa indavo 'bhi priyam amandiṣuḥ |
āpo na dhāyi savanam ma ā vaso dughā ivopa dāśuṣe || 3 ||
anehasaṁ vo havamānam ūtaye madhvaḥ kṣaranti dhītayaḥ |
ā tvā vaso havamānāsa indava upa stotreṣu dadhire || 4 ||
ā naḥ some svadhvara iyāno atyo na tośate |
yaṁ te svadāvan svadanti gūrtayaḥ paure chandayase havam || 5 ||
pra vīram ugraṁ viviciṁ dhanaspṛtaṁ vibhūtiṁ rādhaso mahaḥ |
udrīva vajrinn avato vasutvanā sadā pīpetha dāśuṣe || 6 ||
yad dha nūnam parāvati yad vā pṛthivyāṁ divi |
yujāna indra haribhir mahemata ṛṣva ṛṣvebhir ā gahi || 7 ||
rathirāso harayo ye te asridha ojo vātasya piprati |
yebhir ni dasyum manuṣo nighoṣayo yebhiḥ svaḥ parīyase || 8 ||
etāvatas te vaso vidyāma śūra navyasaḥ |
yathā prāva etaśaṁ kṛtvye dhane yathā vaśaṁ daśavraje || 9 ||
yathā kaṇve maghavan medhe adhvare dīrghanīthe damūnasi |
yathā gośarye asiṣāso adrivo mayi gotraṁ hariśriyam || 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).