Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.53 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, highest of the bounteous ones and foremost of the bulls, best breaker of strongholds, bounteous Indra, finder of cattle, ruling lord — we beg you for wealth.
2. You who drove on Āyu, Kutsa, and Atithigva, growing greater day by day — you, lord of bay horses, of a hundred powers, we call upon, seeking strength.
3. Let the pressing stones pour out to us the sap of all sweetness — the soma-drops pressed by people far away, and those pressed nearby.
4. Strike down all hatreds, cast them away; let everyone win good things — even among the finest of your intoxicating soma-stalks, where you take your fill of soma.
5. Indra, come very close, with your allied helps. O most gracious one, with your most gracious favors. O good friend, with your kindly companions.
6. Make him a winner in the contest, a true lord known to all peoples, a sharer among our offspring. Advance well, by your powers, those who sing hymns to you, purifying their resolve steadily.
7. Whatever help of yours is most effective, may we have it; may we be yours in your battles. With oblations and with invocations of the gods, having gained your favor, we meditate on you.
8. I indeed, O lord of bay steeds, bring my prayer, seeking the prize; I enter the contest always with your aid. You alone I strive toward, desiring horses, desiring cattle, at the forefront of the rivals.
Translator's note: verse 6 (ājituram... kratum punata ānuṣak) and verse 8 (ahaṁ hi te... mathīnām) contain compressed, elliptical phrasing typical of late-Rigvedic Pragātha style; the subject shifts and some terms (e.g. mathīnām, "the churners/rivals," used of contestants) are rendered conservatively rather than resolved with confidence.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.53 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.53
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.
upamaṁ tvā maghonāṁ jyeṣṭhaṁ ca vṛṣabhāṇām |
pūrbhittamam maghavann indra govidam īśānaṁ rāya īmahe || 1 ||
ya āyuṁ kutsam atithigvam ardayo vāvṛdhāno dive-dive |
taṁ tvā vayaṁ haryaśvaṁ śatakratuṁ vājayanto havāmahe || 2 ||
ā no viśveṣāṁ rasam madhvaḥ siñcantv adrayaḥ |
ye parāvati sunvire janeṣv ā ye arvāvatīndavaḥ || 3 ||
viśvā dveṣāṁsi jahi cāva cā kṛdhi viśve sanvantv ā vasu |
śīṣṭeṣu cit te madirāso aṁśavo yatrā somasya tṛmpasi || 4 ||
indra nedīya ed ihi mitamedhābhir ūtibhiḥ |
ā śaṁtama śaṁtamābhir abhiṣṭibhir ā svāpe svāpibhiḥ || 5 ||
ājituraṁ satpatiṁ viśvacarṣaṇiṁ kṛdhi prajāsv ābhagam |
pra sū tirā śacībhir ye ta ukthinaḥ kratum punata ānuṣak || 6 ||
yas te sādhiṣṭho 'vase te syāma bhareṣu te |
vayaṁ hotrābhir uta devahūtibhiḥ sasavāṁso manāmahe || 7 ||
ahaṁ hi te harivo brahma vājayur ājiṁ yāmi sadotibhiḥ |
tvām id eva tam ame sam aśvayur gavyur agre mathīnām || 8 ||
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).