Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.143 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.
Agni, O noble herald! Thou standest betwixt the world of men and the realm of the immortals. From thee the gods are served. Through thee the prayers of mortals reach the ears of the deathless ones.
Thou art the messenger of the sacrifice! When the priest casteth the butter upon thy flame, it transformeth in that moment. The smoke that riseth is no common smoke—it is the path made visible, the road whereby the offering journeyeth upward to the luminous assembly in the highest heaven.
O Agni, thou art clothed in light! Thy form is terrible to behold, yet thou art gentle to those who approach thee with reverence. Thou speakest in the crackling of the wood, in the hiss of the flame, in the roar of the conflagration. All the languages of fire are thine own.
We see thee in the lightning and know thee. We see thee in the sun at his rising and recognize thy kinship. Art thou not the fire that dwelleth even in the water, sleeping until the moment of awakening? Art thou not the heat that resideth in the bodies of all creatures, giving them life and motion?
Come now as the divine priest! Stand before the gods and speak in our behalf. Tell them that we honour thee, that we sacrifice to thee with whole hearts, that we remember thy glory and thy terrible majesty. Carry to them our devotion sealed upon the smoke.
Thou art the doorway between the worlds, O Agni. Without thee there would be no connection, no path, no possibility of communion. The gods themselves depend upon thee to receive what mortals offer. In this way thou art greater than all—neither wholly of the divine nor of the mortal, but the bridge that joineth them.
Accept our worship! Be pleased with our offerings!
Colophon
Rigveda I.143 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.143
pra tavyasīṁ navyasīṁ dhītim agnaye vāco matiṁ sahasaḥ sūnave bhare |
apāṁ napād yo vasubhiḥ saha priyo hotā pṛthivyāṁ ny asīdad ṛtviyaḥ || 1 ||
sa jāyamānaḥ parame vyomany āvir agnir abhavan mātariśvane |
asya kratvā samidhānasya majmanā pra dyāvā śociḥ pṛthivī arocayat || 2 ||
asya tveṣā ajarā asya bhānavaḥ susaṁdṛśaḥ supratīkasya sudyutaḥ |
bhātvakṣaso aty aktur na sindhavo 'gne rejante asasanto ajarāḥ || 3 ||
yam erire bhṛgavo viśvavedasaṁ nābhā pṛthivyā bhuvanasya majmanā |
agniṁ taṁ gīrbhir hinuhi sva ā dame ya eko vasvo varuṇo na rājati || 4 ||
na yo varāya marutām iva svanaḥ seneva sṛṣṭā divyā yathāśaniḥ |
agnir jambhais tigitair atti bharvati yodho na śatrūn sa vanā ny ṛñjate || 5 ||
kuvin no agnir ucathasya vīr asad vasuṣ kuvid vasubhiḥ kāmam āvarat |
codaḥ kuvit tutujyāt sātaye dhiyaḥ śucipratīkaṁ tam ayā dhiyā gṛṇe || 6 ||
ghṛtapratīkaṁ va ṛtasya dhūrṣadam agnim mitraṁ na samidhāna ṛñjate |
indhāno akro vidatheṣu dīdyac chukravarṇām ud u no yaṁsate dhiyam || 7 ||
aprayucchann aprayucchadbhir agne śivebhir naḥ pāyubhiḥ pāhi śagmaiḥ |
adabdhebhir adṛpitebhir iṣṭe 'nimiṣadbhiḥ pari pāhi no jāḥ || 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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