Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.188 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.
Come, O Agni, thou whom we summon! Come to the altar! Come to the ritual-fire that we have kindled in thy name! The soma is poured; the ghee is melted; the grain is ready to be offered. All the sacred elements are in place. All that remains is for thee to descend and accept the sacrifice.
O Fire, thou divine messenger! Thou standest betwixt heaven and earth. With thy flame, thou carriest our prayers upward to the gods. With thy smoke, thou makest visible the invisible connection between mortal men and the divine realm. Without thee, our offerings would be mere empty gestures. But through thee, they become sacred, powerful, efficacious.
We praise thee, Agni! Thou art the witness to all oaths and covenants. Thou art the protector of the home. In every household, thy flame doth burn. Thou warmest the body and cookedst the food. Thou art both gentle and terrible. Thou givest life; thou canst also destroy. And so we approach thee with reverence and awe.
Hear now our invocation! Accept the butter we pour upon thy flame. Accept the soma we offer. Accept the words we speak. Carry them swiftly to Indra, to Vayu, to all the gods of heaven. Let them know that we are faithful, that we remember them, that we ask for their blessing and protection.
O Agni, radiant one! Thou art the gateway between worlds. Thou art the mediator of sacrifice. In thy presence, the holy and the mundane are united. In thy flame, all distinctions burn away, and only the essence remains. So we call upon thee this day, as our ancestors called upon thee, as all men have called upon thee since the beginning of time. Come! Accept our offering! Bless us with thy favor!
Colophon
Rigveda I.188 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.188
samiddho adya rājasi devo devaiḥ sahasrajit |
dūto havyā kavir vaha || 1 ||
tanūnapād ṛtaṁ yate madhvā yajñaḥ sam ajyate |
dadhat sahasriṇīr iṣaḥ || 2 ||
ājuhvāno na īḍyo devām̐ ā vakṣi yajñiyān |
agne sahasrasā asi || 3 ||
prācīnam barhir ojasā sahasravīram astṛṇan |
yatrādityā virājatha || 4 ||
virāṭ samrāḍ vibhvīḥ prabhvīr bahvīś ca bhūyasīś ca yāḥ |
duro ghṛtāny akṣaran || 5 ||
surukme hi supeśasādhi śriyā virājataḥ |
uṣāsāv eha sīdatām || 6 ||
prathamā hi suvācasā hotārā daivyā kavī |
yajñaṁ no yakṣatām imam || 7 ||
bhāratīḻe sarasvati yā vaḥ sarvā upabruve |
tā naś codayata śriye || 8 ||
tvaṣṭā rūpāṇi hi prabhuḥ paśūn viśvān samānaje |
teṣāṁ naḥ sphātim ā yaja || 9 ||
upa tmanyā vanaspate pātho devebhyaḥ sṛja |
agnir havyāni siṣvadat || 10 ||
purogā agnir devānāṁ gāyatreṇa sam ajyate |
svāhākṛtīṣu rocate || 11 ||
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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