Hymn to Agni
Rigveda VIII.84 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. I praise Agni, your dearest guest, dear as a friend, to be known like a chariot.
2. Whom the gods, like a wise seer, then set down among mortals, in turn.
3. You, youngest one, protect the worshipper's people; hear our songs. Guard his offspring, and guard him himself.
4. With what praise-song of yours, Agni, Aṅgiras, son of strength, O god, might we win your favoring mind?
5. With what mind of ours might we offer the sacrifice, O son of strength? What indeed should I speak as this homage?
6. So you indeed will make for us all good dwellings; our songs win prize-wealth.
7. Whose abundant prayers do you now quicken, O lord of the house, in the winning of cattle — he whose songs are yours?
8. They groom him, the one of good power, who goes foremost in the contests, the prize-winner, in their own dwellings.
9. He dwells in secure and good peace; none can slay him who slays his foes. Agni, rich in good sons, he prospers.
Translator's note: verse 2's "dvitā" (rendered "in turn") and verse 7's "parīṇasaḥ" (rendered "abundant") are compact Vedic terms whose fuller connotations — respectively "doubling back" or "again," and "abundance/fullness" — are only approximated here. Aṅgiras (v. 4) is a name closely tied to Agni's mythic lineage as first fire-priest.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.84 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.84
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.
preṣṭhaṁ vo atithiṁ stuṣe mitram iva priyam |
agniṁ rathaṁ na vedyam || 1 ||
kavim iva pracetasaṁ yaṁ devāso adha dvitā |
ni martyeṣv ādadhuḥ || 2 ||
tvaṁ yaviṣṭha dāśuṣo nṝm̐ḥ pāhi śṛṇudhī giraḥ |
rakṣā tokam uta tmanā || 3 ||
kayā te agne aṅgira ūrjo napād upastutim |
varāya deva manyave || 4 ||
dāśema kasya manasā yajñasya sahaso yaho |
kad u voca idaṁ namaḥ || 5 ||
adhā tvaṁ hi nas karo viśvā asmabhyaṁ sukṣitīḥ |
vājadraviṇaso giraḥ || 6 ||
kasya nūnam parīṇaso dhiyo jinvasi dampate |
goṣātā yasya te giraḥ || 7 ||
tam marjayanta sukratum puroyāvānam ājiṣu |
sveṣu kṣayeṣu vājinam || 8 ||
kṣeti kṣemebhiḥ sādhubhir nakir yaṁ ghnanti hanti yaḥ |
agne suvīra edhate || 9 ||
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).