Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.93 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.
Indra and Agni! Thou mighty pair! Thunder and fire do come forth together in this joint hymn of praise. One shatterethe the clouds with his thunderbolt. The other burneth bright with eternal flame. Together they are invincible. Together they maintain the cosmic order.
Indra strikethe with lightning and thunder. The clouds flee before him. The rain falleth at his command. He drinketh the Soma and becometh intoxicated with power. His strength groweth beyond measure. He shaketh heaven and earth. He shatterethe the fortresses of the demons.
Agni burneth ever bright. He dwelleth in the home of every mortal, warming their hearths and cooking their food. He dwelleth in the wood, hidden and dormant, waiting to be awakened by the sacred friction of the fire-sticks. He dwelleth in the waters, in the sun, in the hearts of all living things. He is both beneficent and dangerous, both the warmth of the hearth-fire and the destructive fury of the wildfire.
When Indra and Agni do work together, their power is doubled. The lightning burneth as it strikethe. The thunder roareth louder than the roar of the devouring flames. They push back the darkness together. They keep the asuras at bay. They protect the realm of the gods and the realm of mortals below.
O mighty Indra! O glorious Agni! We offer unto you our joint praises. Accept the soma we pour and the flames we kindle in your honor. Use your combined might to shield us from our enemies. Guard our homes. Protect our families. Keep our hearts warm and our spirits unbroken. Let thy lightning and thy flame lead us ever toward truth and justice.
Colophon
Rigveda I.93 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.93
agnīṣomāv imaṁ su me śṛṇutaṁ vṛṣaṇā havam |
prati sūktāni haryatam bhavataṁ dāśuṣe mayaḥ || 1 ||
agnīṣomā yo adya vām idaṁ vacaḥ saparyati |
tasmai dhattaṁ suvīryaṁ gavām poṣaṁ svaśvyam || 2 ||
agnīṣomā ya āhutiṁ yo vāṁ dāśād dhaviṣkṛtim |
sa prajayā suvīryaṁ viśvam āyur vy aśnavat || 3 ||
agnīṣomā ceti tad vīryaṁ vāṁ yad amuṣṇītam avasam paṇiṁ gāḥ |
avātiratam bṛsayasya śeṣo 'vindataṁ jyotir ekam bahubhyaḥ || 4 ||
yuvam etāni divi rocanāny agniś ca soma sakratū adhattam |
yuvaṁ sindhūm̐r abhiśaster avadyād agnīṣomāv amuñcataṁ gṛbhītān || 5 ||
ānyaṁ divo mātariśvā jabhārāmathnād anyam pari śyeno adreḥ |
agnīṣomā brahmaṇā vāvṛdhānoruṁ yajñāya cakrathur u lokam || 6 ||
agnīṣomā haviṣaḥ prasthitasya vītaṁ haryataṁ vṛṣaṇā juṣethām |
suśarmāṇā svavasā hi bhūtam athā dhattaṁ yajamānāya śaṁ yoḥ || 7 ||
yo agnīṣomā haviṣā saparyād devadrīcā manasā yo ghṛtena |
tasya vrataṁ rakṣatam pātam aṁhaso viśe janāya mahi śarma yacchatam || 8 ||
agnīṣomā savedasā sahūtī vanataṁ giraḥ |
saṁ devatrā babhūvathuḥ || 9 ||
agnīṣomāv anena vāṁ yo vāṁ ghṛtena dāśati |
tasmai dīdayatam bṛhat || 10 ||
agnīṣomāv imāni no yuvaṁ havyā jujoṣatam |
ā yātam upa naḥ sacā || 11 ||
agnīṣomā pipṛtam arvato na ā pyāyantām usriyā havyasūdaḥ |
asme balāni maghavatsu dhattaṁ kṛṇutaṁ no adhvaraṁ śruṣṭimantam || 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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