Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.145 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! Child of two mothers! Born from wood and from waters—what strange and wondrous birth is thine! Neither wholly of earth nor wholly of heaven, yet belonging to both, thou art the bridge, the meeting place, the point of transformation.
The wood beareth thee as a mother beareth her son. Within her darkwood bosom thou sleepest until the moment of awakening. Then thou leapest forth, and lo! A new fire is born, yet it is the same eternal fire that burneth in the hearts of the gods.
The waters also bear thee, though they would seem to be thy enemies. Yet in truth they are thy other mother. Thou dwellest in the moisture of all living things. The blood that courseth through veins is warm because thy fire burneth there. The sweat upon the brow is thy sign.
Two mothers, and yet thou art the father of all. Through thy power the wood brings forth fruit. Through thy heat the water riseth as mist and falleth again as rain. Thou art neither older nor younger than thy mothers—thou art eternal, birthed perpetually, dying perpetually, yet never ceasing to be.
O enigmatic flame! How can we understand thee? Thou art the child, and yet the child obeyeth the mother. Thou art the father, and yet dependest upon both thy mothers. Art thou the first born, or the last born? Art thou the creator, or the creation?
The sages know thy mystery. They kindle thee and speak thy praise. They offer thee the finest gifts, for they understand that thou art the most precious of all sacred powers. Without thee there would be no sacrifice, no communion with the divine, no transformation.
O Agni, child and father, mortal and divine, born of water and wood—accept our praise! Thou art the mystery that containeth all mysteries, the fire that burneth with the knowledge of all things.
Colophon
Rigveda I.145 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.145
tam pṛcchatā sa jagāmā sa veda sa cikitvām̐ īyate sā nv īyate |
tasmin santi praśiṣas tasminn iṣṭayaḥ sa vājasya śavasaḥ śuṣmiṇas patiḥ || 1 ||
tam it pṛcchanti na simo vi pṛcchati sveneva dhīro manasā yad agrabhīt |
na mṛṣyate prathamaṁ nāparaṁ vaco 'sya kratvā sacate apradṛpitaḥ || 2 ||
tam id gacchanti juhva1s tam arvatīr viśvāny ekaḥ śṛṇavad vacāṁsi me |
purupraiṣas taturir yajñasādhano 'cchidrotiḥ śiśur ādatta saṁ rabhaḥ || 3 ||
upasthāyaṁ carati yat samārata sadyo jātas tatsāra yujyebhiḥ |
abhi śvāntam mṛśate nāndye mude yad īṁ gacchanty uśatīr apiṣṭhitam || 4 ||
sa īm mṛgo apyo vanargur upa tvacy upamasyāṁ ni dhāyi |
vy abravīd vayunā martyebhyo 'gnir vidvām̐ ṛtacid dhi satyaḥ || 5 ||
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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