Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.109 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. It is one of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda organized within Maṇḍala 1, the first of ten books. The ṛṣi (seer) to whom this hymn is attributed and its precise liturgical context are recorded in the traditional Śākalya Anukramaṇī.
The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas and one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Indus-Sarasvatī region. Its hymns were preserved through oral transmission across millennia before being committed to writing. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
O Indra and Agni, hear our desperate prayer! Our enemies encircle us everywhere. We stand alone upon the field of war, and look to you to help us evermore.
Come now with all thy might, O Indra bold! Come now with all thy heat, O Agni gold! Together make us strong to meet the foe, and strike our enemies a mortal blow.
We have prepared our souls for battle's test; we have rejected fear, we have been blessed. With you beside us, we shall conquer all; before thy mighty power, our foes shall fall.
O Indra, grant to us thy lightning bright, that we may smite our enemies in the fight! O Agni, set our courage all ablaze, and let thy flames burn through the coming days!
The demons gather round with spears and shield; they think to conquer us upon the field. But thou, O Indra, art the lord of war, whose power is greater than a thousand more.
And thou, O Agni, burnest up our doubt, and kindlest in our hearts a fierce shout. Together ye shall make us brave and true, and all our enemies shall bend to you.
We race toward battle as we race toward thee; we hunger for the victory, burning free. Our hearts are hot with courage and with fire, and thou shalt grant unto us our desire.
Come now, come swiftly, hear us ere too late! Our enemies do wait upon the gate. Indra and Agni, strongest of the strong, come to our aid and right this dreadful wrong!
With thee, O gods, we shall not ever fail; with thee, O gods, our victory shall prevail.
Colophon
Rigveda I.109 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, the version that has been transmitted and is considered canonical in the mainstream tradition. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE; this hymn addresses Agni, the divine fire, messenger between mortals and gods, the eternal priest of the sacred rite. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation session to be documented during Kshatriya Blood Rule audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda I.109
vi hy akhyam manasā vasya icchann indrāgnī jñāsa uta vā sajātān |
nānyā yuvat pramatir asti mahyaṁ sa vāṁ dhiyaṁ vājayantīm atakṣam || 1 ||
aśravaṁ hi bhūridāvattarā vāṁ vijāmātur uta vā ghā syālāt |
athā somasya prayatī yuvabhyām indrāgnī stomaṁ janayāmi navyam || 2 ||
mā cchedma raśmīm̐r iti nādhamānāḥ pitṝṇāṁ śaktīr anuyacchamānāḥ |
indrāgnibhyāṁ kaṁ vṛṣaṇo madanti tā hy adrī dhiṣaṇāyā upasthe || 3 ||
yuvābhyāṁ devī dhiṣaṇā madāyendrāgnī somam uśatī sunoti |
tāv aśvinā bhadrahastā supāṇī ā dhāvatam madhunā pṛṅktam apsu || 4 ||
yuvām indrāgnī vasuno vibhāge tavastamā śuśrava vṛtrahatye |
tāv āsadyā barhiṣi yajñe asmin pra carṣaṇī mādayethāṁ sutasya || 5 ||
pra carṣaṇibhyaḥ pṛtanāhaveṣu pra pṛthivyā riricāthe divaś ca |
pra sindhubhyaḥ pra giribhyo mahitvā prendrāgnī viśvā bhuvanāty anyā || 6 ||
ā bharataṁ śikṣataṁ vajrabāhū asmām̐ indrāgnī avataṁ śacībhiḥ |
ime nu te raśmayaḥ sūryasya yebhiḥ sapitvam pitaro na āsan || 7 ||
puraṁdarā śikṣataṁ vajrahastāsmām̐ indrāgnī avatam bhareṣu |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 8 ||
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).
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