Hymn to Indra
Rigveda I.56 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 rain-bringer! When the earth doth parch and cry out for moisture, when the cattle low in their distress and the crops do wilt beneath the merciless sun—then we lift our voices unto thee, O mighty one!
Thou art the master of the waters. When thou dost command it, the clouds gather above the mountains. They darken the sky until noon appeareth as twilight. Then thou dost smite them with thy thunderbolt, and the rains descend in torrents. The earth drinketh deep; the rivers run full and swift; the very ground seemeth to rejoice at the return of abundance.
Thou freest the waters that are bound in the clouds! Thou piercest the vessels that contain them! Just as a man must pierce the vessel to spill its contents, so dost thou pierce the clouds that they may empty themselves upon the thirsting land.
We have heard the stories of old—how in times of drought thou didst smile upon our ancestors. The rains fell at thy command. The riverbeds, which had been dry as bones, flowed again with living water. The green returned to the plains. The cattle found grass. The herds multiplied. Life itself did return to the land.
Yet we have also seen the terror of thy waters when thou dost become wrathful. The rains that give life can also bring death if they come too fiercely, too long. The floods sweep away villages and fields. The waters drown the livestock. We know that thy power can destroy as well as sustain.
Therefore we honor thee with great respect, O Indra! We do not take for granted thy gifts. We do not forget thy power. We ask thee—grant us thy rains in measure. Give us water enough to live, but spare us the terrible floods. Be merciful, O rain-bringer. Free the waters for our sake. Thus do we pray unto thee.
Colophon
Rigveda I.56 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.
🌲
Source Text: ṛgveda I.56
eṣa pra pūrvīr ava tasya camriṣo 'tyo na yoṣām ud ayaṁsta bhurvaṇiḥ |
dakṣam mahe pāyayate hiraṇyayaṁ ratham āvṛtyā hariyogam ṛbhvasam || 1 ||
taṁ gūrtayo nemanniṣaḥ parīṇasaḥ samudraṁ na saṁcaraṇe saniṣyavaḥ |
patiṁ dakṣasya vidathasya nū saho giriṁ na venā adhi roha tejasā || 2 ||
sa turvaṇir mahām̐ areṇu pauṁsye girer bhṛṣṭir na bhrājate tujā śavaḥ |
yena śuṣṇam māyinam āyaso made dudhra ābhūṣu rāmayan ni dāmani || 3 ||
devī yadi taviṣī tvāvṛdhotaya indraṁ siṣakty uṣasaṁ na sūryaḥ |
yo dhṛṣṇunā śavasā bādhate tama iyarti reṇum bṛhad arhariṣvaṇiḥ || 4 ||
vi yat tiro dharuṇam acyutaṁ rajo 'tiṣṭhipo diva ātāsu barhaṇā |
svarmīḻhe yan mada indra harṣyāhan vṛtraṁ nir apām aubjo arṇavam || 5 ||
tvaṁ divo dharuṇaṁ dhiṣa ojasā pṛthivyā indra sadaneṣu māhinaḥ |
tvaṁ sutasya made ariṇā apo vi vṛtrasya samayā pāṣyārujaḥ || 6 ||
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).
🌲