Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.163 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) addressed to Indra, the storm-king and champion of the gods, slayer of Vṛtra, lord of thunder and rain. 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.
Hail to the divine horse, born ere the dawn of days,
Whose cosmic origin doth reach beyond the mortal ken,
Whose form was shaped by the invisible hand of truth eternal.
In that far time when the gods did first separate the waters,
When the sky was drawn away from the earth by mighty Indra,
The horse did spring forth glorious from the cosmic sacrifice,
His hooves did strike the hard stone and make it flow like water.
Lo, he is the offspring of the wind and of the fire,
His breath is the sacred wind that bloweth o'er all lands,
His body beareth the mark of the lightning's holy touch.
What speed hath he! What majesty! What power to stride o'er mountains!
His neck doth arch with pride, his mane doth flow like rivers,
His tail doth sweep the dust of heaven in its wake,
And where his feet do strike the ground, the flowers spring up blooming.
The horse doth carry in his heart the memory of the gods,
The knowledge of the sacred paths that lead through earth and sky,
The wisdom of the cosmic order that doth bind all things together.
He knoweth the secret names, he heareth the unspoken words,
He seeth with his eyes the shapes of things invisible.
O noble beast, thou art the link 'tween heaven and the mortal realm,
Thy sacrifice doth make the bond eternal and complete.
Thy flesh shall nourish those who offer thee with reverence true,
Thy bones shall strengthen all the works that humans do achieve,
Thy spirit shall ascend unto the gods most high.
We praise thee, O divine horse, bearer of our hopes and dreams,
We sing thy glory in this hymn with hearts that burn with faith,
We offer up our thanks for all the wonders thou hast given,
The swiftness and the strength, the courage and the noble heart.
May we be worthy of thy sacrifice, may we honor thy great name,
May we remember ever that thou art the gift divine.
Colophon
Rigveda I.163 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 Indra, the storm-king and champion of the gods, slayer of Vṛtra, lord of thunder and rain. 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.163
yad akrandaḥ prathamaṁ jāyamāna udyan samudrād uta vā purīṣāt |
śyenasya pakṣā hariṇasya bāhū upastutyam mahi jātaṁ te arvan || 1 ||
yamena dattaṁ trita enam āyunag indra eṇam prathamo adhy atiṣṭhat |
gandharvo asya raśanām agṛbhṇāt sūrād aśvaṁ vasavo nir ataṣṭa || 2 ||
asi yamo asy ādityo arvann asi trito guhyena vratena |
asi somena samayā vipṛkta āhus te trīṇi divi bandhanāni || 3 ||
trīṇi ta āhur divi bandhanāni trīṇy apsu trīṇy antaḥ samudre |
uteva me varuṇaś chantsy arvan yatrā ta āhuḥ paramaṁ janitram || 4 ||
imā te vājinn avamārjanānīmā śaphānāṁ sanitur nidhānā |
atrā te bhadrā raśanā apaśyam ṛtasya yā abhirakṣanti gopāḥ || 5 ||
ātmānaṁ te manasārād ajānām avo divā patayantam pataṁgam |
śiro apaśyam pathibhiḥ sugebhir areṇubhir jehamānam patatri || 6 ||
atrā te rūpam uttamam apaśyaṁ jigīṣamāṇam iṣa ā pade goḥ |
yadā te marto anu bhogam ānaḻ ād id grasiṣṭha oṣadhīr ajīgaḥ || 7 ||
anu tvā ratho anu maryo arvann anu gāvo 'nu bhagaḥ kanīnām |
anu vrātāsas tava sakhyam īyur anu devā mamire vīryaṁ te || 8 ||
hiraṇyaśṛṅgo 'yo asya pādā manojavā avara indra āsīt |
devā id asya haviradyam āyan yo arvantam prathamo adhyatiṣṭhat || 9 ||
īrmāntāsaḥ silikamadhyamāsaḥ saṁ śūraṇāso divyāso atyāḥ |
haṁsā iva śreṇiśo yatante yad ākṣiṣur divyam ajmam aśvāḥ || 10 ||
tava śarīram patayiṣṇv arvan tava cittaṁ vāta iva dhrajīmān |
tava śṛṅgāṇi viṣṭhitā purutrāraṇyeṣu jarbhurāṇā caranti || 11 ||
upa prāgāc chasanaṁ vājy arvā devadrīcā manasā dīdhyānaḥ |
ajaḥ puro nīyate nābhir asyānu paścāt kavayo yanti rebhāḥ || 12 ||
upa prāgāt paramaṁ yat sadhastham arvām̐ acchā pitaram mātaraṁ ca |
adyā devāñ juṣṭatamo hi gamyā athā śāste dāśuṣe vāryāṇi || 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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