Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.12 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 Agni, thou whom the gods did set upon the sacred altar! Thou art the messenger between the earth and heaven. All that we mortals offer thou dost carry unto the gods on high. Accept our oblations and bear them forth with favor.
In the morning we kindle thee; at evening we feed thy flame. With dry wood and with ghee we make thee strong. Thou growest bright and fierce; thou reachest toward the sky. O Agni, thou art the pillar that upholdeth all things.
The rain doth not quench thee; the wind doth not blow thee out. When the waters come, thou dost still shine forth. Thy flame is eternal; thy light is undying. O Agni, thou art stronger than the storm, mightier than the deluge.
In every dwelling thou art present; in every home thou art honored. The wife doth kindle thee at dawn that the family may be blessed. The children do gather round thy warmth and thy light. O Agni, thou art the heart of every hearth and home.
O Medhātithi Kāṇva, who first didst sing this praise! Accept our hymn as the completion of thy work. We do kindle Agni as thou didst kindle him; we do make the same offering that thou didst make. Let thy blessing fall upon us; let the god hear our prayer.
Come, O Agni, to this sacrifice. We have prepared the altar; we have made ready the wood; we have brought the ghee and the soma. Come and accept our offering. Make it acceptable unto the gods; carry it forth with thy bright flame. O Agni, let thy fire consume our oblations and bear them unto the gods.
Colophon
Rigveda I.12 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.12
agniṁ dūtaṁ vṛṇīmahe hotāraṁ viśvavedasam |
asya yajñasya sukratum || 1 ||
agnim-agniṁ havīmabhiḥ sadā havanta viśpatim |
havyavāham purupriyam || 2 ||
agne devām̐ ihā vaha jajñāno vṛktabarhiṣe |
asi hotā na īḍyaḥ || 3 ||
tām̐ uśato vi bodhaya yad agne yāsi dūtyam |
devair ā satsi barhiṣi || 4 ||
ghṛtāhavana dīdivaḥ prati ṣma riṣato daha |
agne tvaṁ rakṣasvinaḥ || 5 ||
agnināgniḥ sam idhyate kavir gṛhapatir yuvā |
havyavāḍ juhvāsyaḥ || 6 ||
kavim agnim upa stuhi satyadharmāṇam adhvare |
devam amīvacātanam || 7 ||
yas tvām agne haviṣpatir dūtaṁ deva saparyati |
tasya sma prāvitā bhava || 8 ||
yo agniṁ devavītaye haviṣmām̐ āvivāsati |
tasmai pāvaka mṛḻaya || 9 ||
sa naḥ pāvaka dīdivo 'gne devām̐ ihā vaha |
upa yajñaṁ haviś ca naḥ || 10 ||
sa naḥ stavāna ā bhara gāyatreṇa navīyasā |
rayiṁ vīravatīm iṣam || 11 ||
agne śukreṇa śociṣā viśvābhir devahūtibhiḥ |
imaṁ stomaṁ juṣasva naḥ || 12 ||
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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