Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.79 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, the thundering flame! The storm-fire! When thy voice soundeth forth in the heavens, the earth trembleth beneath our feet! The very mountains shake at thy roar! The sky itself is split asunder by thy terrible power!
Thou art not merely the gentle household fire, O Agni—nay, thou art also the cosmic force that explodeth in thunder and lightning! When Indra rideth forth to battle the demons, it is thy strength that floweth through his thunderbolt. When the storm clouds gather and break open in torrential rain, it is thy energy that driveth the waters downward.
The lightning bolt is but thy arrow, O Fire. When thou drawest back thy bow and releaseth thy shaft, the heavens themselves light up with the brilliance of thy cosmic fury. The demons flee before thee. The darkness vanisheth. The very structure of reality is confirmed by thy awesome display.
Hear the roar of the thunder, O mortals! Tremble at the sound of thy approaching steps, O Agni! The earth shaketh. The beasts huddle in their shelters. The birds cower beneath the branches. All creation respecteth thy terrible power.
Yet even in thy fury, thou art just, O Storm-Fire! Thou bringest the rains that water the crops and give life to all things. Thou burnest away the corruption and the sickness. Thou striketest down the wicked and the unjust. Thy terrible roar is the voice of cosmic order reasserting itself against the forces of chaos.
We mortals bow before thee in awe and reverence, O Thundering Agni! We acknowledge thy supremacy! We tremble at thy manifestation! And yet we honor thee, for we know that thy fury is righteous, thy power is just, thy roar is the voice of the eternal laws that underlie all creation.
Grant us safety beneath thy terrible gaze! Protect us from thy wrath through righteous living! Let thy cosmic thunder sound the death-knell of all evil!
Colophon
Rigveda I.79 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.79
hiraṇyakeśo rajaso visāre 'hir dhunir vāta iva dhrajīmān |
śucibhrājā uṣaso navedā yaśasvatīr apasyuvo na satyāḥ || 1 ||
ā te suparṇā aminantam̐ evaiḥ kṛṣṇo nonāva vṛṣabho yadīdam |
śivābhir na smayamānābhir āgāt patanti mihaḥ stanayanty abhrā || 2 ||
yad īm ṛtasya payasā piyāno nayann ṛtasya pathibhī rajiṣṭhaiḥ |
aryamā mitro varuṇaḥ parijmā tvacam pṛñcanty uparasya yonau || 3 ||
agne vājasya gomata īśānaḥ sahaso yaho |
asme dhehi jātavedo mahi śravaḥ || 4 ||
sa idhāno vasuṣ kavir agnir īḻenyo girā |
revad asmabhyam purvaṇīka dīdihi || 5 ||
kṣapo rājann uta tmanāgne vastor utoṣasaḥ |
sa tigmajambha rakṣaso daha prati || 6 ||
avā no agna ūtibhir gāyatrasya prabharmaṇi |
viśvāsu dhīṣu vandya || 7 ||
ā no agne rayim bhara satrāsāhaṁ vareṇyam |
viśvāsu pṛtsu duṣṭaram || 8 ||
ā no agne sucetunā rayiṁ viśvāyupoṣasam |
mārḍīkaṁ dhehi jīvase || 9 ||
pra pūtās tigmaśociṣe vāco gotamāgnaye |
bharasva sumnayur giraḥ || 10 ||
yo no agne 'bhidāsaty anti dūre padīṣṭa saḥ |
asmākam id vṛdhe bhava || 11 ||
sahasrākṣo vicarṣaṇir agnī rakṣāṁsi sedhati |
hotā gṛṇīta ukthyaḥ || 12 ||
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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