Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.59 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.
Glory unto Agni Vaiśvānara, the universal fire! Thou art not bound to any single place, any single dwelling. The fire in the palace of the king and the fire in the hut of the poorest peasant—both are thee. Thou art everywhere, in all homes, warming all people equally with thy gift of flame.
Vaiśvānara meaneth "belonging to all people." This is thy true nature, O Agni! Thou art the fire of humanity itself, shared equally by rich and poor, by wise and foolish, by righteous and wicked. Rich man or poor man—both must kindle the fire to cook their food. Both must draw near to thy warmth on cold nights. Both have equal need of thee.
Thou art the leveler, O universal fire! In thy presence, all are equal. The king upon his throne and the slave in his chains—both feel the same warmth from thy flames. Both are bound by the same necessity. Both must respect thy power, for thou canst comfort or consume.
In the home, thou art the center. The family gathereth around thee. The meal is cooked upon thy heat. Stories are told beneath thy light. Children warm their hands at thy flames. When the family membereth separateth to return to work in the fields or the marketplace, each carriethwithin their heart the memory of thy warmth—the comfort and security that they felt in thy presence.
And when the day endeth and all the family returneth, the first act is always to kindle thee anew or stir thy embers back to life. "Now we are home," they seem to say. "Now we are gathered again before the fire. Now we are safe."
O Vaiśvānara! Thou universal flame, thou people's fire, thou warmth of all humanity! Be thou kindled in every home, be thou tended with care, be thou honored with offerings. For without thee, we are cold and isolated. With thee, we are warm and together. Thus do we praise thee, O Agni Vaiśvānara.
Colophon
Rigveda I.59 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.59
vayā id agne agnayas te anye tve viśve amṛtā mādayante |
vaiśvānara nābhir asi kṣitīnāṁ sthūṇeva janām̐ upamid yayantha || 1 ||
mūrdhā divo nābhir agniḥ pṛthivyā athābhavad aratī rodasyoḥ |
taṁ tvā devāso 'janayanta devaṁ vaiśvānara jyotir id āryāya || 2 ||
ā sūrye na raśmayo dhruvāso vaiśvānare dadhire 'gnā vasūni |
yā parvateṣv oṣadhīṣv apsu yā mānuṣeṣv asi tasya rājā || 3 ||
bṛhatī iva sūnave rodasī giro hotā manuṣyo3 na dakṣaḥ |
svarvate satyaśuṣmāya pūrvīr vaiśvānarāya nṛtamāya yahvīḥ || 4 ||
divaś cit te bṛhato jātavedo vaiśvānara pra ririce mahitvam |
rājā kṛṣṭīnām asi mānuṣīṇāṁ yudhā devebhyo varivaś cakartha || 5 ||
pra nū mahitvaṁ vṛṣabhasya vocaṁ yam pūravo vṛtrahaṇaṁ sacante |
vaiśvānaro dasyum agnir jaghanvām̐ adhūnot kāṣṭhā ava śambaram bhet || 6 ||
vaiśvānaro mahimnā viśvakṛṣṭir bharadvājeṣu yajato vibhāvā |
śātavaneye śatinībhir agniḥ puruṇīthe jarate sūnṛtāvān || 7 ||
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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