Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.45 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.
O Agni, thou inviter of the gods! Thou standest at the threshold of heaven and earth. When we kindle thee and speak the prayer, thou hearest instantly. Thou risest up and fliest to the gods, and they do come down at thy summoning.
Thou art the messenger, the bearer of our word! The gods await thee—they hunger for the oblation. But they come not unbidden. Only through thee do they descend into the world of men. Thou art the only gate between the mortal realm and the divine.
We sing thy praise, O Agni! Come and hear our prayer. We have prepared the soma, the finest grains, the clarified butter. All waiteth upon thy acceptance. Come, kindle the offering! Mount upward on thy flames and carry all unto the gods assembled.
What god doth not receive thy invitation? Not Indra, though he marcheth in battle. Not Mitra, though he watcheth from afar. Not the Aśvins, though they ride their swift chariot. Not even Viṣṇu, who dwelleth in the far reaches of sky. All come when Agni calleth.
Thou art the eldest of the gods among mortals. We were taught to kindle thee before all others. Our fathers' fathers knew thy name; they poured their oblations unto thee. Now we too come with our offerings, following in their footsteps.
O Agni, thou master of the sacrifice! Accept our flame, our words, our ghee, our souls laid bare before thee. Summon the gods to our aid. Tell them of our devotion, our need, our prayers. Be our advocate in heaven. Through thee alone do we reach the immortals. Thus do we invoke thee—forever and ever.
Colophon
Rigveda I.45 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.45
tvam agne vasūm̐r iha rudrām̐ ādityām̐ uta |
yajā svadhvaraṁ janam manujātaṁ ghṛtapruṣam || 1 ||
śruṣṭīvāno hi dāśuṣe devā agne vicetasaḥ |
tān rohidaśva girvaṇas trayastriṁśatam ā vaha || 2 ||
priyamedhavad atrivaj jātavedo virūpavat |
aṅgirasvan mahivrata praskaṇvasya śrudhī havam || 3 ||
mahikerava ūtaye priyamedhā ahūṣata |
rājantam adhvarāṇām agniṁ śukreṇa śociṣā || 4 ||
ghṛtāhavana santyemā u ṣu śrudhī giraḥ |
yābhiḥ kaṇvasya sūnavo havante 'vase tvā || 5 ||
tvāṁ citraśravastama havante vikṣu jantavaḥ |
śociṣkeśam purupriyāgne havyāya voḻhave || 6 ||
ni tvā hotāram ṛtvijaṁ dadhire vasuvittamam |
śrutkarṇaṁ saprathastamaṁ viprā agne diviṣṭiṣu || 7 ||
ā tvā viprā acucyavuḥ sutasomā abhi prayaḥ |
bṛhad bhā bibhrato havir agne martāya dāśuṣe || 8 ||
prātaryāvṇaḥ sahaskṛta somapeyāya santya |
ihādya daivyaṁ janam barhir ā sādayā vaso || 9 ||
arvāñcaṁ daivyaṁ janam agne yakṣva sahūtibhiḥ |
ayaṁ somaḥ sudānavas tam pāta tiroahnyam || 10 ||
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).
🌲