Hymn to Agni
Rigveda I.96 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.
Behold the radiant bull, O Agni! Thou dost shine forth with a brilliance that blindeth the eye. Thy horns are wrought of pure light. Thy hide gleameth like burnished bronze. Thy strength is as the strength of a thousand bulls. When thou dost roar, all the heavens do echo.
The bull is the symbol of cosmic power and strength. In ancient times, the primordial bull did support the world upon his shoulders. Thou, O Agni, art that bull made manifest. Thou art the cosmic power that sustaineth all existence. Without thee, all things would crumble into dust and disappear.
Thou are fierce and terrible in thy might. Those who would oppose thee do tremble and flee. The enemies of the gods do cower before thee. The demons do shriek and vanish at thy approach. Yet art thou also gentle and nurturing. The mother cows do lick their calves beneath thy warm gaze. The bulls do sire offspring. All fertility floweth from thee.
The bull doth till the earth with his strength. The plow-team of oxen doth drag the plow through the soil, and the seed falleth into the furrows. It is the power of the bull that giveth life to the crops. It is his strength that feedeth the people.
O radiant bull, O mighty Agni! We do honor thee in thy physical manifestation. We see thy cosmic power reflected in the creatures of this world. Accept our prayers and our praises. Use thy strength to preserve creation. Keep the worlds from falling into chaos. Let thy light illumine all dark places. Let thy heat warm the hearts of all beings. Make us strong and courageous like the bull.
Colophon
Rigveda I.96 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.96
sa pratnathā sahasā jāyamānaḥ sadyaḥ kāvyāni baḻ adhatta viśvā |
āpaś ca mitraṁ dhiṣaṇā ca sādhan devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 1 ||
sa pūrvayā nividā kavyatāyor imāḥ prajā ajanayan manūnām |
vivasvatā cakṣasā dyām apaś ca devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 2 ||
tam īḻata prathamaṁ yajñasādhaṁ viśa ārīr āhutam ṛñjasānam |
ūrjaḥ putram bharataṁ sṛpradānuṁ devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 3 ||
sa mātariśvā puruvārapuṣṭir vidad gātuṁ tanayāya svarvit |
viśāṁ gopā janitā rodasyor devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 4 ||
naktoṣāsā varṇam āmemyāne dhāpayete śiśum ekaṁ samīcī |
dyāvākṣāmā rukmo antar vi bhāti devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 5 ||
rāyo budhnaḥ saṁgamano vasūnāṁ yajñasya ketur manmasādhano veḥ |
amṛtatvaṁ rakṣamāṇāsa enaṁ devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 6 ||
nū ca purā ca sadanaṁ rayīṇāṁ jātasya ca jāyamānasya ca kṣām |
sataś ca gopām bhavataś ca bhūrer devā agniṁ dhārayan draviṇodām || 7 ||
draviṇodā draviṇasas turasya draviṇodāḥ sanarasya pra yaṁsat |
draviṇodā vīravatīm iṣaṁ no draviṇodā rāsate dīrgham āyuḥ || 8 ||
evā no agne samidhā vṛdhāno revat pāvaka śravase vi bhāhi |
tan no mitro varuṇo māmahantām aditiḥ sindhuḥ pṛthivī uta dyauḥ || 9 ||
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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