Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.144 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! Secret fire! Thou art hidden within all things, dwelling in the depths where no eye can perceive thee. In the wood thou sleepest. In the stone thou liest dormant. In the waters thou art imprisoned, yet alive.
What force brought thee into being? Did the gods kindle thee before the dawn of the world? Or art thou self-born, emerging from thyself alone, the source that needeth no source? O mysterious flame, thy origin passeth all understanding.
Thou art in the sun that journeyeth across the sky. Thou art in the lightning that teareth the cloud. Thou art in the glow that riseth in the cheeks of maidens, in the fierce heat of battle, in the passion of love. All warmth, all energy, all transformation is thy doing.
The animals know thee—they gather about thy flame for warmth. The plants seek thee—their growth is thy gift. The waters contain thee—though they would quench thy visible form, thy essence escapeth and travelleth onward. There is no substance that doth not harbour thy spark.
Yet thou art most fully thyself when thou art kindled, when the wood crackles and thy true nature is revealed in all its glory. Then all creatures tremble and bow before thee. The night flees from thy approach. The cold is vanquished. Thou art triumphant.
O Agni, guide of all existence! We perceive thy hand in the ripening of grain, in the birth of calves, in the healing of wounds. Thou art the power that dwelleth in the seed, that maketh all things grow, that reneweth what is decayed.
Dwell within us! Let thy fire burn away our ignorance, our weakness, our despair. Make us strong as the wood is strong when fully aflame. Let thy secret presence remind us always that divinity dwelleth hidden in all things, even in ourselves.
Colophon
Rigveda I.144 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.144
eti pra hotā vratam asya māyayordhvāṁ dadhānaḥ śucipeśasaṁ dhiyam |
abhi srucaḥ kramate dakṣiṇāvṛto yā asya dhāma prathamaṁ ha niṁsate || 1 ||
abhīm ṛtasya dohanā anūṣata yonau devasya sadane parīvṛtāḥ |
apām upasthe vibhṛto yad āvasad adha svadhā adhayad yābhir īyate || 2 ||
yuyūṣataḥ savayasā tad id vapuḥ samānam arthaṁ vitaritratā mithaḥ |
ād īm bhago na havyaḥ sam asmad ā voḻhur na raśmīn sam ayaṁsta sārathiḥ || 3 ||
yam īṁ dvā savayasā saparyataḥ samāne yonā mithunā samokasā |
divā na naktam palito yuvājani purū carann ajaro mānuṣā yugā || 4 ||
tam īṁ hinvanti dhītayo daśa vriśo devam martāsa ūtaye havāmahe |
dhanor adhi pravata ā sa ṛṇvaty abhivrajadbhir vayunā navādhita || 5 ||
tvaṁ hy agne divyasya rājasi tvam pārthivasya paśupā iva tmanā |
enī ta ete bṛhatī abhiśriyā hiraṇyayī vakvarī barhir āśāte || 6 ||
agne juṣasva prati harya tad vaco mandra svadhāva ṛtajāta sukrato |
yo viśvataḥ pratyaṅṅ asi darśato raṇvaḥ saṁdṛṣṭau pitumām̐ iva kṣayaḥ || 7 ||
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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