Hymn to Indra
Rigveda VIII.90 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. May Indra, worthy of invocation in all battles, attend to us — to our prayers and our soma-pressings — the slayer of Vṛtra, supreme in his bow, rich in praise-songs.
2. You are the foremost giver of bounties; you are truly the one who grants lordship. We choose fellowship with the greatly brilliant one, the son of mighty strength.
3. Prayers are made for you, Indra, lover of praise-songs — prayers not beneath your wonder. Accept these, O tawny-horsed one — these harnessings, Indra, that we have devised for you.
4. For you, truly, O bounteous one, unbowed, put down the many foes. So you, O mightiest, mace in hand, bring wealth here to the one who has made offering.
5. You, Indra, are glorious, drinker of the soma-dregs, O lord of might. You alone strike down the irresistible foes, unconquered, upholder of the peoples.
6. Now indeed we beg you, O wise Asura, for bounty as our due share. Your shelter is vast, like a great hide spread wide, O Indra — may your favors reach us.
Translator's note: "ṛcīṣamaḥ" (v.1) and "anatidbhutā" (v.3) are rare compounds of uncertain precise sense; rendered conservatively as "rich in praise-songs" and "not beneath your wonder." "Asura" (v.6) is used here in its early Rigvedic sense of a mighty divine lord, not the later demonic sense.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.90 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.90
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.
ā no viśvāsu havya indraḥ samatsu bhūṣatu |
upa brahmāṇi savanāni vṛtrahā paramajyā ṛcīṣamaḥ || 1 ||
tvaṁ dātā prathamo rādhasām asy asi satya īśānakṛt |
tuvidyumnasya yujyā vṛṇīmahe putrasya śavaso mahaḥ || 2 ||
brahmā ta indra girvaṇaḥ kriyante anatidbhutā |
imā juṣasva haryaśva yojanendra yā te amanmahi || 3 ||
tvaṁ hi satyo maghavann anānato vṛtrā bhūri nyṛñjase |
sa tvaṁ śaviṣṭha vajrahasta dāśuṣe 'rvāñcaṁ rayim ā kṛdhi || 4 ||
tvam indra yaśā asy ṛjīṣī śavasas pate |
tvaṁ vṛtrāṇi haṁsy apratīny eka id anuttā carṣaṇīdhṛtā || 5 ||
tam u tvā nūnam asura pracetasaṁ rādho bhāgam ivemahe |
mahīva kṛttiḥ śaraṇā ta indra pra te sumnā no aśnavan || 6 ||
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).