Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.165 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.
Hear now the dialogue 'tween Indra, king most mighty, and the Maruts wild,
Who ride upon the storms and sing their songs of thunder and of wind.
Indra speaketh: I am the lord of all the heaven and the earth,
None doth surpass me in strength, none doth rival my great deeds.
I alone did slay the dragon, I alone did break his serpent coils,
I alone did drink the soma deep and became immortal ever.
Wherefore should these Maruts, though they be swift of foot,
Be counted equal unto me in glory and in might?
The Maruts do reply with voices like the wind's own roar:
We are the sons of heaven, born of the cosmic order's breath,
We ride upon the clouds and shake the very pillars of the world.
Our strength is the strength of youth eternal, never waning, ever keen,
We strike with lightning's fury, we devour with flames of fire,
And yet we honor Indra, for he is our lord and guide.
But hear us now, O Indra, mighty though thou be:
We do not kneel before thee as the servants to their master,
We stand beside thee as the brothers stand together in the fight.
Thy might is great, but ours combined doth shake the heavens wide,
Thy thunder is a single voice, but ours are manifold.
Indra doth respond with pride that burns like sacred fire:
Thou sayest well, O Maruts, and I hear thy words with gladness,
For a lord who hath no rivals soon becomes as dust and shadow.
Come then, ride beside me in the battles yet to come,
Let thy strength and mine be joined in purpose high and noble,
And together we shall conquer all the demons and the foes.
The Maruts hear and are appeased, their pride doth melt away,
And they do swear their loyalty to Indra, king of gods.
So was the great dispute resolved through words of wisdom spoken,
And Indra and the Maruts bound themselves in bonds of friendship strong,
That nevermore should pride or jealousy do tear them one from other,
But evermore they ride together through the cosmic reaches wide.
This is the lesson for all mortals who do dwell below:
That even the mightiest must honor those who stand beside,
That strength without the fellowship of others is but hollow pride,
And that the greatest victories come when many hearts do beat as one.
Colophon
Rigveda I.165 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.165
kayā śubhā savayasaḥ sanīḻāḥ samānyā marutaḥ sam mimikṣuḥ |
kayā matī kuta etāsa ete 'rcanti śuṣmaṁ vṛṣaṇo vasūyā || 1 ||
kasya brahmāṇi jujuṣur yuvānaḥ ko adhvare maruta ā vavarta |
śyenām̐ iva dhrajato antarikṣe kena mahā manasā rīramāma || 2 ||
kutas tvam indra māhinaḥ sann eko yāsi satpate kiṁ ta itthā |
sam pṛcchase samarāṇaḥ śubhānair voces tan no harivo yat te asme || 3 ||
brahmāṇi me matayaḥ śaṁ sutāsaḥ śuṣma iyarti prabhṛto me adriḥ |
ā śāsate prati haryanty ukthemā harī vahatas tā no accha || 4 ||
ato vayam antamebhir yujānāḥ svakṣatrebhis tanva1ḥ śumbhamānāḥ |
mahobhir etām̐ upa yujmahe nv indra svadhām anu hi no babhūtha || 5 ||
kva1 syā vo marutaḥ svadhāsīd yan mām ekaṁ samadhattāhihatye |
ahaṁ hy u1gras taviṣas tuviṣmān viśvasya śatror anamaṁ vadhasnaiḥ || 6 ||
bhūri cakartha yujyebhir asme samānebhir vṛṣabha pauṁsyebhiḥ |
bhūrīṇi hi kṛṇavāmā śaviṣṭhendra kratvā maruto yad vaśāma || 7 ||
vadhīṁ vṛtram maruta indriyeṇa svena bhāmena taviṣo babhūvān |
aham etā manave viśvaścandrāḥ sugā apaś cakara vajrabāhuḥ || 8 ||
anuttam ā te maghavan nakir nu na tvāvām̐ asti devatā vidānaḥ |
na jāyamāno naśate na jāto yāni kariṣyā kṛṇuhi pravṛddha || 9 ||
ekasya cin me vibhv a1stv ojo yā nu dadhṛṣvān kṛṇavai manīṣā |
ahaṁ hy u1gro maruto vidāno yāni cyavam indra id īśa eṣām || 10 ||
amandan mā marutaḥ stomo atra yan me naraḥ śrutyam brahma cakra |
indrāya vṛṣṇe sumakhāya mahyaṁ sakhye sakhāyas tanve tanūbhiḥ || 11 ||
eved ete prati mā rocamānā anedyaḥ śrava eṣo dadhānāḥ |
saṁcakṣyā marutaś candravarṇā acchānta me chadayāthā ca nūnam || 12 ||
ko nv atra maruto māmahe vaḥ pra yātana sakhīm̐r acchā sakhāyaḥ |
manmāni citrā apivātayanta eṣām bhūta navedā ma ṛtānām || 13 ||
ā yad duvasyād duvase na kārur asmāñ cakre mānyasya medhā |
o ṣu vartta maruto vipram acchemā brahmāṇi jaritā vo arcat || 14 ||
eṣa vaḥ stomo maruta iyaṁ gīr māndāryasya mānyasya kāroḥ |
eṣā yāsīṣṭa tanve vayāṁ vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 15 ||
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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