Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.69 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. Forth, ever forth, your tristubh hymn and offering go out to the drop that gladdens heroes; with insight and abundance she seeks the winning of the sacrifice for you.
2. You desire the bull of the surging waters, the bull of those ever joining together, the lord of your inviolable milk-cows.
3. His dappled cows, streaming with rich milk, blend the soma — the clans of the gods, at their birth, in the three shining realms of heaven.
4. Sing out with your song to Indra, lord of cattle, as he is known — the son of truth, lord of the good.
5. The tawny ones have been let loose, the ruddy ones, onto the sacred grass, where we cry out together.
6. The cows have milked out their mixture, the sweet draught, for Indra who wields the thunderbolt, when he found it hidden away.
7. That we, together with Indra, might go up to the high house of the ruddy one, and having drunk of the sweet drink, be joined together, thrice seven times, in the track of our friend.
8. Sing! Sing out! Sing, you sons of Priyamedha, sing! Let the little ones sing too — sing boldly, as though storming a fortress.
9. The gargara resounds, the godhā sounds all around, the tawny piṅgā leaps about — the sacred chant is lifted up for Indra.
10. When the dark ones rush forth, richly yielding, unswerving — seize the soma as it springs away, for Indra to drink.
11. Indra drank, Agni drank, all the gods grew joyful. Varuna indeed reigns here; the waters have lowed toward him, as cows with young low toward their calf.
12. You are truly a god, Varuna — the seven rivers stream along your palate as through a hollow pipe.
13. He who set the well-yoked coursers surging forth to the worshipper — the swift leader — that indeed is his marvel, the model of what was let loose.
14. Indra indeed, mighty one, was known to overcome all who hate him; he broke open the young one's cooking gruel, going beyond it with a roar.
15. Like a little boy mounting a new chariot, he cooked the great wild buffalo, mighty in strength, for father and mother.
16. Mount now, fair-jawed one, lord of the house, your golden chariot; then let us join the heavenly one, thousand-footed, ruddy, bringing well-being, without flaw.
17. Thus the reverent ones sit in attendance upon the self-ruling one; even his well-set purpose, that would have him go, they turn back toward giving.
18. Following the ancient abode, the Priyamedhas, following the former offering of their forebears, having strewn the sacred grass and set out the feast, have won their share.
Translator's note: several verses in this hymn are among the most obscure in the Rigveda and are rendered conservatively where the Sanskrit itself is compressed or riddling. Verse 7's "thrice seven, in the track of the friend" and "the summit-house of the ruddy one" (bradhna) echo formulaic Vedic phrases whose full referents are uncertain. Verse 13's "coursers... set surging forth" and verse 14's "the young one's cooking gruel... going beyond it with a roar" resist confident paraphrase; the words are translated as literally as English allows rather than smoothed into a guessed narrative. Verse 17's syntax (whose "purpose" is turned back, and by whom) is likewise ambiguous in the Sanskrit and left as ambiguous in English.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.69 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.69
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-pra vas triṣṭubham iṣam mandadvīrāyendave |
dhiyā vo medhasātaye puraṁdhyā vivāsati || 1 ||
nadaṁ va odatīnāṁ nadaṁ yoyuvatīnām |
patiṁ vo aghnyānāṁ dhenūnām iṣudhyasi || 2 ||
tā asya sūdadohasaḥ somaṁ śrīṇanti pṛśnayaḥ |
janman devānāṁ viśas triṣv ā rocane divaḥ || 3 ||
abhi pra gopatiṁ girendram arca yathā vide |
sūnuṁ satyasya satpatim || 4 ||
ā harayaḥ sasṛjrire 'ruṣīr adhi barhiṣi |
yatrābhi saṁnavāmahe || 5 ||
indrāya gāva āśiraṁ duduhre vajriṇe madhu |
yat sīm upahvare vidat || 6 ||
ud yad bradhnasya viṣṭapaṁ gṛham indraś ca ganvahi |
madhvaḥ pītvā sacevahi triḥ sapta sakhyuḥ pade || 7 ||
arcata prārcata priyamedhāso arcata |
arcantu putrakā uta puraṁ na dhṛṣṇv arcata || 8 ||
ava svarāti gargaro godhā pari saniṣvaṇat |
piṅgā pari caniṣkadad indrāya brahmodyatam || 9 ||
ā yat patanty enyaḥ sudughā anapasphuraḥ |
apasphuraṁ gṛbhāyata somam indrāya pātave || 10 ||
apād indro apād agnir viśve devā amatsata |
varuṇa id iha kṣayat tam āpo abhy anūṣata vatsaṁ saṁśiśvarīr iva || 11 ||
sudevo asi varuṇa yasya te sapta sindhavaḥ |
anukṣaranti kākudaṁ sūrmyaṁ suṣirām iva || 12 ||
yo vyatīm̐r aphāṇayat suyuktām̐ upa dāśuṣe |
takvo netā tad id vapur upamā yo amucyata || 13 ||
atīd u śakra ohata indro viśvā ati dviṣaḥ |
bhinat kanīna odanam pacyamānam paro girā || 14 ||
arbhako na kumārako 'dhi tiṣṭhan navaṁ ratham |
sa pakṣan mahiṣam mṛgam pitre mātre vibhukratum || 15 ||
ā tū suśipra dampate rathaṁ tiṣṭhā hiraṇyayam |
adha dyukṣaṁ sacevahi sahasrapādam aruṣaṁ svastigām anehasam || 16 ||
taṁ ghem itthā namasvina upa svarājam āsate |
arthaṁ cid asya sudhitaṁ yad etava āvartayanti dāvane || 17 ||
anu pratnasyaukasaḥ priyamedhāsa eṣām |
pūrvām anu prayatiṁ vṛktabarhiṣo hitaprayasa āśata || 18 ||
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).