Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.170 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 great Agastya, the sage most wise and ancient,
And Indra, the lord of heaven, as they do dispute upon the nature of the sacrifice.
Agastya speaketh with voice that hath the weight of ages upon it:
Indra, thou art mighty, this none shall dare to deny,
Yet I do ask thee truly: what is the source of thy great power?
Is it not the sacrifice that the mortals do perform?
Is it not the soma that is pressed by priestly hands?
Is it not the prayers that rise like incense unto the sky?
Indra doth respond with thunder rolling in his voice:
Old sage, thou art wise in many matters and in learning deep,
Yet I must tell thee plainly: my strength cometh not from mortals' deeds,
I am mighty from mine own eternal nature and essence,
I was born of the gods themselves before the worlds did form,
And my power is rooted in the very heart of being.
The sacrifice doth please me, and I do accept the soma sweet,
But I do not depend upon these gifts, however precious they may be,
For my might would endure though all the mortals ceased from worship,
And my throne would stand unshaken though no hymns were ever sung.
Agastya doth reply with wisdom ancient and profound:
Indra, thy words contain the truth, and yet they are not all the truth,
For what is a god without the recognition of the worshippers?
What is power without the acknowledgment of those who serve?
Thou art indeed mighty from thy nature inherent and divine,
But thy glory doth shine brightest when the mortals do perceive it,
And thy reign doth extend furthest when the people do revere thy name.
The sacrifice is not thy source of power, this I do concede,
Yet it is the sacred bond that doth connect thee to the world below,
It is the thread that bindeth heaven unto earth,
And through it floweth blessing from the gods unto the mortals grateful.
Indra doth nod with understanding vast and gracious:
Thy words are wise indeed, O ancient sage so learned,
I see the truth in what thou sayest, and I am moved to agreement,
For a god who standeth utterly alone doth become as one forgotten,
And the purpose of the gods is to uphold the mortal world,
To guard and guide and bless the beings who do dwell below.
So let the sacrifices rise forever unto the gods on high,
Let the mortals sing their praises with devoted hearts and voices true,
And let the bond 'tween heaven and earth be strengthened through these rites,
For in this sacred commerce doth all blessing flow and multiply.
Colophon
Rigveda I.170 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.170
na nūnam asti no śvaḥ kas tad veda yad adbhutam |
anyasya cittam abhi saṁcareṇyam utādhītaṁ vi naśyati || 1 ||
kiṁ na indra jighāṁsasi bhrātaro marutas tava |
tebhiḥ kalpasva sādhuyā mā naḥ samaraṇe vadhīḥ || 2 ||
kiṁ no bhrātar agastya sakhā sann ati manyase |
vidmā hi te yathā mano 'smabhyam in na ditsasi || 3 ||
araṁ kṛṇvantu vediṁ sam agnim indhatām puraḥ |
tatrāmṛtasya cetanaṁ yajñaṁ te tanavāvahai || 4 ||
tvam īśiṣe vasupate vasūnāṁ tvam mitrāṇām mitrapate dheṣṭhaḥ |
indra tvam marudbhiḥ saṁ vadasvādha prāśāna ṛtuthā havīṁṣi || 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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