Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.54 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.
O Indra, thou cosmic lord! Thou art vaster than the sky itself. Thy form doth fill all space. Yet paradoxically, thou art small enough to dwell within the soma draught. How can this be? How can the infinite contain itself within the finite?
Such are the mysteries of the gods. Thou art both mighty and subtle, both vast and intimate, both terrible and gentle. Thou upheldest the sky when it threatened to fall upon the earth. In the ancient days, when the mountains had no foundations and the stars no support, thou didst put forth thy hands and held aloft the very vault of heaven.
Hath any of us beheld such strength? Nay, we cannot even imagine it! The earth itself presseth down with all its weight. The mountains thrust upward with all their might. The sky above straineth under its own vastness. Yet thou, O Indra, holdest all in place as easily as a man might balance a stone upon his palm.
What is thy nature, O mighty one? Art thou the atmosphere that surroundeth the world? Art thou the space betwixt heaven and earth? Art thou something yet more mysterious—the very substance of being, the fundamental support upon which all existence resteth?
The wise ones have debated this since ancient times. Some say thou art the wind. Some say thou art the breath of the cosmos. Some say thou art consciousness itself, pervading all things. But none can say with certainty. Thou art beyond naming, beyond defining, beyond the reach of our understanding.
Yet we call upon thee nonetheless, O Indra! We do not need to comprehend thy nature in order to recognize thy power. We see thy works in the world. We feel thy presence in the storm, in the rain, in the very beating of our hearts. Accept our humble prayers, O cosmic lord. Grant us strength to endure, and wisdom to persevere.
Colophon
Rigveda I.54 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.54
mā no asmin maghavan pṛtsv aṁhasi nahi te antaḥ śavasaḥ parīṇaśe |
akrandayo nadyo3 roruvad vanā kathā na kṣoṇīr bhiyasā sam ārata || 1 ||
arcā śakrāya śākine śacīvate śṛṇvantam indram mahayann abhi ṣṭuhi |
yo dhṛṣṇunā śavasā rodasī ubhe vṛṣā vṛṣatvā vṛṣabho nyṛñjate || 2 ||
arcā dive bṛhate śūṣya1ṁ vacaḥ svakṣatraṁ yasya dhṛṣato dhṛṣan manaḥ |
bṛhacchravā asuro barhaṇā kṛtaḥ puro haribhyāṁ vṛṣabho ratho hi ṣaḥ || 3 ||
tvaṁ divo bṛhataḥ sānu kopayo 'va tmanā dhṛṣatā śambaram bhinat |
yan māyino vrandino mandinā dhṛṣac chitāṁ gabhastim aśanim pṛtanyasi || 4 ||
ni yad vṛṇakṣi śvasanasya mūrdhani śuṣṇasya cid vrandino roruvad vanā |
prācīnena manasā barhaṇāvatā yad adyā cit kṛṇavaḥ kas tvā pari || 5 ||
tvam āvitha naryaṁ turvaśaṁ yaduṁ tvaṁ turvītiṁ vayyaṁ śatakrato |
tvaṁ ratham etaśaṁ kṛtvye dhane tvam puro navatiṁ dambhayo nava || 6 ||
sa ghā rājā satpatiḥ śūśuvaj jano rātahavyaḥ prati yaḥ śāsam invati |
ukthā vā yo abhigṛṇāti rādhasā dānur asmā uparā pinvate divaḥ || 7 ||
asamaṁ kṣatram asamā manīṣā pra somapā apasā santu neme |
ye ta indra daduṣo vardhayanti mahi kṣatraṁ sthaviraṁ vṛṣṇyaṁ ca || 8 ||
tubhyed ete bahulā adridugdhāś camūṣadaś camasā indrapānāḥ |
vy aśnuhi tarpayā kāmam eṣām athā mano vasudeyāya kṛṣva || 9 ||
apām atiṣṭhad dharuṇahvaraṁ tamo 'ntar vṛtrasya jaṭhareṣu parvataḥ |
abhīm indro nadyo vavriṇā hitā viśvā anuṣṭhāḥ pravaṇeṣu jighnate || 10 ||
sa śevṛdham adhi dhā dyumnam asme mahi kṣatraṁ janāṣāḻ indra tavyam |
rakṣā ca no maghonaḥ pāhi sūrīn rāye ca naḥ svapatyā iṣe dhāḥ || 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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