Hymn to Indra, the Pure One
Rigveda VIII.95 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. The songs have mounted toward you like charioteers, toward the pressed soma, praise-loving one. They have cried out to you together, Indra, as mothers cry to a calf.
2. The bright pressed drops have stirred you, Indra, praise-loving one. Drink, then, of this juice, Indra — it is set out for you in every vessel.
3. Drink the soma for your exhilaration, Indra, the pressed soma brought by the falcon. For you are the lord of all the many peoples, the king of the clans.
4. Hear the call, Indra, sent out across the distance, the call of the one who honors you. Fill him, who is rich in good sons and cattle, with wealth — you are great.
5. Indra, the poet who has just now brought forth for you this newest, joyous song — an insightful thought, ancient, swelling with truth.
6. Let us praise that Indra whom songs, whom hymns of praise have made strong. Seeking to win his many feats of strength, we long for them.
7. Come, then, let us praise Indra, the pure one, with a pure chant — strengthened by pure hymns. Pure, mixed with milk, let him take his pleasure.
8. Indra, pure, come to us; pure, with pure help. Pure, hold wealth over us; pure, exhilarate yourself, worthy of the soma.
9. Indra, pure, give us wealth; pure, give treasures to the one who offers. Pure, you strike down the obstructing powers; pure, you seek to win the prize.
Translator's note: the refrain śuddha- (verses 7–9) is rendered "pure" throughout, its plainest sense; the word may also carry a ritual sense of "clarified" or "unmixed" as applied to the soma itself, but the Sanskrit does not distinguish which sense is meant in each occurrence, so a single consistent rendering is kept.
Colophon
Rigveda VIII.95 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.95
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 tvā giro rathīr ivāsthuḥ suteṣu girvaṇaḥ |
abhi tvā sam anūṣatendra vatsaṁ na mātaraḥ || 1 ||
ā tvā śukrā acucyavuḥ sutāsa indra girvaṇaḥ |
pibā tv a1syāndhasa indra viśvāsu te hitam || 2 ||
pibā somam madāya kam indra śyenābhṛtaṁ sutam |
tvaṁ hi śaśvatīnām patī rājā viśām asi || 3 ||
śrudhī havaṁ tiraścyā indra yas tvā saparyati |
suvīryasya gomato rāyas pūrdhi mahām̐ asi || 4 ||
indra yas te navīyasīṁ giram mandrām ajījanat |
cikitvinmanasaṁ dhiyam pratnām ṛtasya pipyuṣīm || 5 ||
tam u ṣṭavāma yaṁ gira indram ukthāni vāvṛdhuḥ |
purūṇy asya pauṁsyā siṣāsanto vanāmahe || 6 ||
eto nv indraṁ stavāma śuddhaṁ śuddhena sāmnā |
śuddhair ukthair vāvṛdhvāṁsaṁ śuddha āśīrvān mamattu || 7 ||
indra śuddho na ā gahi śuddhaḥ śuddhābhir ūtibhiḥ |
śuddho rayiṁ ni dhāraya śuddho mamaddhi somyaḥ || 8 ||
indra śuddho hi no rayiṁ śuddho ratnāni dāśuṣe |
śuddho vṛtrāṇi jighnase śuddho vājaṁ siṣāsasi || 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).