Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.62 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. Bring forth for him the praise-song that he loves. With hymns the soma-pressers make Indra's mighty vigor grow. Good are Indra's gifts.
2. Without equal, matchless among men, alone, untiring over the tribes — he has grown beyond many things, surpassing all creatures in might. Good are Indra's gifts.
3. Even with a horse staked on the race, the swift bounty-giver seeks to win. That must be told, Indra — those are your heroic deeds, deeds of one ready to act. Good are Indra's gifts.
4. Come, Indra — let us fashion for you strengthening prayers, in which, O mightiest, you delight, bringing good fortune here to the one who seeks glory. Good are Indra's gifts.
5. You, Indra, make bold the mind even of the bold — of him who honors you with strong soma-pressings, who attends you with homage. Good are Indra's gifts.
6. Ṛcīṣama looks down on his worshippers as a man looks down at wells. Having taken pleasure in the soma-presser's skill, he makes him friend and ally. Good are Indra's gifts.
7. All the gods, Indra, granted power to your heroic strength, in accordance with your will. You became the guardian-lord of all, O much-invoked one. Good are Indra's gifts.
8. I proclaim that supreme strength of yours, Indra, for the worship of the gods — how you smite Vṛtra with your might, O lord of power. Good are Indra's gifts.
9. As if marveling at his form in the contest, let the generations of men act likewise. Indra knows that sign, and he is renowned. Good are Indra's gifts.
10. Exalted at birth was your strength, Indra; exalted are you, exalted your purpose. Those rich in cattle have greatly prospered, O bounteous one, under your protection. Good are Indra's gifts.
11. Let you and me, Vṛtra-slayer, join together for the winning of gains. Even the hostile one, O wielder of the stone, O hero, will come to think well of us both. Good are Indra's gifts.
12. Truly, and not falsely, do we praise this Indra. Great is the destruction for the one who presses no soma; many are the lights for the one who presses it. Good are Indra's gifts.
Translator's note: several lines in this hymn are syntactically compressed and admit more than one reading. Verse 3's "ahitena cid arvatā" is rendered here through the imagery of a horse staked or entered in a race, a natural sense of "arvant" (steed) with "ahita" (set down, staked). Verse 6's "ṛcīṣamaḥ" is taken as a proper name/epithet of Indra (as in other Rigvedic occurrences) rather than translated as a common adjective. Verse 9's "samaneva vapuṣyataḥ" is one of the harder half-lines in the hymn; it is rendered conservatively, preserving the image of marveling at a form in a gathering or contest, without asserting a firmer sense than the Sanskrit supports.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.62 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.62
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.
pro asmā upastutim bharatā yaj jujoṣati |
ukthair indrasya māhinaṁ vayo vardhanti somino bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 1 ||
ayujo asamo nṛbhir ekaḥ kṛṣṭīr ayāsyaḥ |
pūrvīr ati pra vāvṛdhe viśvā jātāny ojasā bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 2 ||
ahitena cid arvatā jīradānuḥ siṣāsati |
pravācyam indra tat tava vīryāṇi kariṣyato bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 3 ||
ā yāhi kṛṇavāma ta indra brahmāṇi vardhanā |
yebhiḥ śaviṣṭha cākano bhadram iha śravasyate bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 4 ||
dhṛṣataś cid dhṛṣan manaḥ kṛṇoṣīndra yat tvam |
tīvraiḥ somaiḥ saparyato namobhiḥ pratibhūṣato bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 5 ||
ava caṣṭa ṛcīṣamo 'vatām̐ iva mānuṣaḥ |
juṣṭvī dakṣasya sominaḥ sakhāyaṁ kṛṇute yujam bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 6 ||
viśve ta indra vīryaṁ devā anu kratuṁ daduḥ |
bhuvo viśvasya gopatiḥ puruṣṭuta bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 7 ||
gṛṇe tad indra te śava upamaṁ devatātaye |
yad dhaṁsi vṛtram ojasā śacīpate bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 8 ||
samaneva vapuṣyataḥ kṛṇavan mānuṣā yugā |
vide tad indraś cetanam adha śruto bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 9 ||
uj jātam indra te śava ut tvām ut tava kratum |
bhūrigo bhūri vāvṛdhur maghavan tava śarmaṇi bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 10 ||
ahaṁ ca tvaṁ ca vṛtrahan saṁ yujyāva sanibhya ā |
arātīvā cid adrivo 'nu nau śūra maṁsate bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 11 ||
satyam id vā u taṁ vayam indraṁ stavāma nānṛtam |
mahām̐ asunvato vadho bhūri jyotīṁṣi sunvato bhadrā indrasya rātayaḥ || 12 ||
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).