Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.169 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.
Indra, the sole lord, he who standeth alone in majesty supreme,
Doth reign eternal o'er all the worlds, both visible and invisible,
His kingdom doth stretch beyond the reach of mortal comprehension,
And his throne doth sit immovable at the center of all being.
None can challenge Indra, for he is the mightiest of all the gods,
His strength doth exceed that of all his peers combined together,
His will is the law unto which all creation doth submit,
His word is the decree by which the cosmos doth ordain itself.
Indra did vanquish Vṛtra, the dragon of the depths unfathomed,
With a single blow of his thunderbolt, he shattered coils of darkness,
And the waters that were bound were freed to flow upon the earth,
And all the worlds did sing for joy at Indra's mighty victory.
The sun doth shine by Indra's will, the stars do gleam by his permission,
The moon doth wax and wane according to his timeless order,
The seasons do turn in their courses 'cause of Indra's steady governance,
And the very fabric of reality is woven by his hand.
All the gods do acknowledge Indra's supreme authority,
The Maruts do bow before him, the Aśvins do honor his name,
Agni doth kindle his fires at Indra's celestial command,
And even Varuṇa, lord of laws, doth defer unto his majesty.
Yet Indra is not a tyrant, though his power be absolute,
He ruleth with justice and compassion, with wisdom deep and fathomless,
He doth protect the weak from the strong, the righteous from the wicked,
And his reign doth bring peace and prosperity unto all the lands.
We mortals below do depend upon Indra's grace eternal,
For without his protection, we would be consumed by chaos dark,
Without his gifts of rain and sunshine, we would perish in the wilderness,
Without his blessings upon our sacrifices, we would cry out in despair.
So we do offer unto Indra our most precious gifts and praises,
We do sing his glory with our voices raised on high,
We do ask him for his favor and his help in times of trial,
We do acknowledge his dominion o'er all the worlds and all the ages.
Indra, the sole lord, accept our worship and our love,
Grant unto us thy protection and thy blessings ever-flowing,
And we shall serve thee faithful until the very end of time.
Colophon
Rigveda I.169 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.169
mahaś cit tvam indra yata etān mahaś cid asi tyajaso varūtā |
sa no vedho marutāṁ cikitvān sumnā vanuṣva tava hi preṣṭhā || 1 ||
ayujran ta indra viśvakṛṣṭīr vidānāso niṣṣidho martyatrā |
marutām pṛtsutir hāsamānā svarmīḻhasya pradhanasya sātau || 2 ||
amyak sā ta indra ṛṣṭir asme sanemy abhvam maruto junanti |
agniś cid dhi ṣmātase śuśukvān āpo na dvīpaṁ dadhati prayāṁsi || 3 ||
tvaṁ tū na indra taṁ rayiṁ dā ojiṣṭhayā dakṣiṇayeva rātim |
stutaś ca yās te cakananta vāyoḥ stanaṁ na madhvaḥ pīpayanta vājaiḥ || 4 ||
tve rāya indra tośatamāḥ praṇetāraḥ kasya cid ṛtāyoḥ |
te ṣu ṇo maruto mṛḻayantu ye smā purā gātūyantīva devāḥ || 5 ||
prati pra yāhīndra mīḻhuṣo nṝn mahaḥ pārthive sadane yatasva |
adha yad eṣām pṛthubudhnāsa etās tīrthe nāryaḥ pauṁsyāni tasthuḥ || 6 ||
prati ghorāṇām etānām ayāsām marutāṁ śṛṇva āyatām upabdiḥ |
ye martyam pṛtanāyantam ūmair ṛṇāvānaṁ na patayanta sargaiḥ || 7 ||
tvam mānebhya indra viśvajanyā radā marudbhiḥ śurudho goagrāḥ |
stavānebhiḥ stavase deva devair vidyāmeṣaṁ vṛjanaṁ jīradānum || 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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