Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.141 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 fire that dwellest in secret, hidden in the wood as in the womb of waters—thou hast been born yet art eternal. We invoke thee, O mysterious flame, who camest forth from the Two Mothers, who art the child yet the father of all things.
Come forth, O Agni, with thy radiant form! Thou art the tongue of the gods, the mouth through which they speak their will to us. When we offer the oblation, it is thy very fire that carries it upward, transforms it, and bears it to the assembly of the immortals in the bright sky.
Thou art the friend of man, dwelling in every household, in every flame that warms the cold breast. The wood doth cradle thee, and when struck or rubbed, thou leapest forth victorious and brilliant. Thy light is as the sun newly born, driving back the darkness that devoureth all things.
O Agni, who was not, yet was born of the waters! Thou wast hidden in the stones, thou wast sleeping in the plants. The ṛṣis knew thy secret and by their wisdom they compelled thee to awaken. Now thou burnest with terrible beauty, O devourer of the sacrifice, O herald between the worlds.
We know thee not fully, O Agni. Thy forms are countless. Art thou the lightning that splits the dark cloud? Art thou the glow within the human eye? Art thou the desire that burneth in the heart of the sage? Thou art all these and more—the one fire that appeareth in ten thousand forms.
Protect us, O radiant one! Destroy our enemies with thy consuming flame! Make us pure as the fire purifies the offering. We praise thee with these words, O Agni, O ancient mystery, O newly born eternal—accept our worship and dwell forever in the smoke of our sacrifice.
Colophon
Rigveda I.141 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.141
baḻ itthā tad vapuṣe dhāyi darśataṁ devasya bhargaḥ sahaso yato jani |
yad īm upa hvarate sādhate matir ṛtasya dhenā anayanta sasrutaḥ || 1 ||
pṛkṣo vapuḥ pitumān nitya ā śaye dvitīyam ā saptaśivāsu mātṛṣu |
tṛtīyam asya vṛṣabhasya dohase daśapramatiṁ janayanta yoṣaṇaḥ || 2 ||
nir yad īm budhnān mahiṣasya varpasa īśānāsaḥ śavasā kranta sūrayaḥ |
yad īm anu pradivo madhva ādhave guhā santam mātariśvā mathāyati || 3 ||
pra yat pituḥ paramān nīyate pary ā pṛkṣudho vīrudho daṁsu rohati |
ubhā yad asya januṣaṁ yad invata ād id yaviṣṭho abhavad ghṛṇā śuciḥ || 4 ||
ād in mātṝr āviśad yāsv ā śucir ahiṁsyamāna urviyā vi vāvṛdhe |
anu yat pūrvā aruhat sanājuvo ni navyasīṣv avarāsu dhāvate || 5 ||
ād id dhotāraṁ vṛṇate diviṣṭiṣu bhagam iva papṛcānāsa ṛñjate |
devān yat kratvā majmanā puruṣṭuto martaṁ śaṁsaṁ viśvadhā veti dhāyase || 6 ||
vi yad asthād yajato vātacodito hvāro na vakvā jaraṇā anākṛtaḥ |
tasya patman dakṣuṣaḥ kṛṣṇajaṁhasaḥ śucijanmano raja ā vyadhvanaḥ || 7 ||
ratho na yātaḥ śikvabhiḥ kṛto dyām aṅgebhir aruṣebhir īyate |
ād asya te kṛṣṇāso dakṣi sūrayaḥ śūrasyeva tveṣathād īṣate vayaḥ || 8 ||
tvayā hy agne varuṇo dhṛtavrato mitraḥ śāśadre aryamā sudānavaḥ |
yat sīm anu kratunā viśvathā vibhur arān na nemiḥ paribhūr ajāyathāḥ || 9 ||
tvam agne śaśamānāya sunvate ratnaṁ yaviṣṭha devatātim invasi |
taṁ tvā nu navyaṁ sahaso yuvan vayam bhagaṁ na kāre mahiratna dhīmahi || 10 ||
asme rayiṁ na svarthaṁ damūnasam bhagaṁ dakṣaṁ na papṛcāsi dharṇasim |
raśmīm̐r iva yo yamati janmanī ubhe devānāṁ śaṁsam ṛta ā ca sukratuḥ || 11 ||
uta naḥ sudyotmā jīrāśvo hotā mandraḥ śṛṇavac candrarathaḥ |
sa no neṣan neṣatamair amūro 'gnir vāmaṁ suvitaṁ vasyo accha || 12 ||
astāvy agniḥ śimīvadbhir arkaiḥ sāmrājyāya prataraṁ dadhānaḥ |
amī ca ye maghavāno vayaṁ ca mihaṁ na sūro ati niṣ ṭatanyuḥ || 13 ||
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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