Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.70 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, purifier and enricher! Thou burnest away the impurities that cling to all things. The dross is consumed in thy flames. The base metal becometh gold. The soiled garment becometh clean. All that is foul and corrupted must pass through thy fire and emerge renewed.
Yet thou art also the enricher! Through thy transforming power, all things are increased. The seed falleth into the earth and is consumed, yet from it springeth the mighty tree. The body of the beast is offered to thy flames, yet its substance provideth nourishment and energy. The wood is burned and doth no longer exist in its original form—yet in the fire, in the heat, in the light, it giveth forth all that it contained.
This is the great mystery of thy nature, O Fire! That purification and enrichment are one and the same. That which appeareth to be destruction is truly transformation. That which seemeth to be loss is truly multiplication. In thy crucible, nothing is truly destroyed—only changed, refined, elevated to a higher state.
We mortals desperately require thy purifying work, O Agni. Our souls are stained with ignorance and sin. Our hearts are clouded with desire and attachment. Our minds are darkened by confusion. We cannot ascend to the divine realm in such a state. We cannot stand in the presence of the gods while we are soiled with impurity.
But thou canst make us clean! Thou canst burn away our defilements! When we approach thy altar with sincere hearts, when we make our offerings with genuine repentance, thou dost work thy purifying magic upon us. We emerge from the encounter transformed—lighter, brighter, more resembling our true selves.
And in our purification, we are enriched! For every fault that is burned away maketh room for a virtue to take its place. Every vice consumed in thy flames alloweth a corresponding excellence to flourish. Come now, O Holy Fire, and work thy dual transformation upon us!
Colophon
Rigveda I.70 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.70
vanema pūrvīr aryo manīṣā agniḥ suśoko viśvāny aśyāḥ || 1 ||
ā daivyāni vratā cikitvān ā mānuṣasya janasya janma || 2 ||
garbho yo apāṁ garbho vanānāṁ garbhaś ca sthātāṁ garbhaś carathām || 3 ||
adrau cid asmā antar duroṇe viśāṁ na viśvo amṛtaḥ svādhīḥ || 4 ||
sa hi kṣapāvām̐ agnī rayīṇāṁ dāśad yo asmā araṁ sūktaiḥ || 5 ||
etā cikitvo bhūmā ni pāhi devānāṁ janma martām̐ś ca vidvān || 6 ||
vardhān yam pūrvīḥ kṣapo virūpāḥ sthātuś ca ratham ṛtapravītam || 7 ||
arādhi hotā sva1r niṣattaḥ kṛṇvan viśvāny apāṁsi satyā || 8 ||
goṣu praśastiṁ vaneṣu dhiṣe bharanta viśve baliṁ svar ṇaḥ || 9 ||
vi tvā naraḥ purutrā saparyan pitur na jivrer vi vedo bharanta || 10 ||
sādhur na gṛdhnur asteva śūro yāteva bhīmas tveṣaḥ samatsu || 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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