Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.102 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
Let Indra drive thy chariot forth, though it be ill-shaped or oddly yoked.
In this race for renown, in this drawing of lots and spoil, aid us, thou oft-called.
The wind played the wanton with her cloak as she won a thousand kine and a chariot besides.
Mudgalānī was her name, charioteer in the cattle-quest, who, as Indra’s own weapon, cast the perfect throw and claimed the match.
Hold fast the club of the foe who would strike us, O Indra.
Turn aside the death-blow, whether cast by Dāsa hand or Ārya—thou who givest freely.
He grew wild with thirst and drank a whole lake.
The hammer rang loud, breaking hatred.
The ball’d bull, hungry for glory, lunged forward with mighty limbs.
They came against him, and he roared; they made the bull piss mid-race.
Yet by him, Mudgala gained a thousand and a hundred cattle, fat and fine.
The bull was yoked to the work of kaka.
His long-haired driver dodged and weaved, but the dung of the frenzied beast struck Mudgalānī all the same.
Seeing all, he struck the wheel’s outer rim aside and yoked the bull anew, with toil.
Indra lent hand to the lord of prize-kine, and the hunch-backed bull flew forth in stride.
Whip in hand, the braided man made luck his own, tying wood to strap with craft.
Doing bold deeds for many men, eye on the kine, he rose in might.
“Lo! the yokemate of the bull—there lies the club of wood, set mid the race-path, wherewith Mudgala took his thousand and his hundred in the clash of carts.”
“Be gone, ill fortune! Who hath seen the like?
They yoke him, and now bid him ride—no grass, no water given.
The chariot’s pole standeth high, drawing the cart ever onward.”
She hath brought back her man, as a shunned wife bringeth back her love.
She swelleth, he drippeth, as one who toils with a poor water-wheel.
May we too win, with a driver swifter than swift— let our gain be good luck and golden hoard.
Indra, thou art the eye of all that stirreth and goeth, the eye behind the eye.
As bull thyself, thou strivest in the race of bulls, driving one on with a steer beside him.
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.102
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
pra te ratham mithūkṛtam indro 'vatu dhṛṣṇuyā |
asminn ājau puruhūta śravāyye dhanabhakṣeṣu no 'va || 1 ||
ut sma vāto vahati vāso 'syā adhirathaṁ yad ajayat sahasram |
rathīr abhūn mudgalānī gaviṣṭau bhare kṛtaṁ vy aced indrasenā || 2 ||
antar yaccha jighāṁsato vajram indrābhidāsataḥ |
dāsasya vā maghavann āryasya vā sanutar yavayā vadham || 3 ||
udno hradam apibaj jarhṛṣāṇaḥ kūṭaṁ sma tṛṁhad abhimātim eti |
pra muṣkabhāraḥ śrava icchamāno 'jiram bāhū abharat siṣāsan || 4 ||
ny akrandayann upayanta enam amehayan vṛṣabham madhya ājeḥ |
tena sūbharvaṁ śatavat sahasraṁ gavām mudgalaḥ pradhane jigāya || 5 ||
kakardave vṛṣabho yukta āsīd avāvacīt sārathir asya keśī |
dudher yuktasya dravataḥ sahānasa ṛcchanti ṣmā niṣpado mudgalānīm || 6 ||
uta pradhim ud ahann asya vidvān upāyunag vaṁsagam atra śikṣan |
indra ud āvat patim aghnyānām araṁhata padyābhiḥ kakudmān || 7 ||
śunam aṣṭrāvy acarat kapardī varatrāyāṁ dārv ānahyamānaḥ |
nṛmṇāni kṛṇvan bahave janāya gāḥ paspaśānas taviṣīr adhatta || 8 ||
imaṁ tam paśya vṛṣabhasya yuñjaṁ kāṣṭhāyā madhye drughaṇaṁ śayānam |
yena jigāya śatavat sahasraṁ gavām mudgalaḥ pṛtanājyeṣu || 9 ||
āre aghā ko nv i1tthā dadarśa yaṁ yuñjanti tam v ā sthāpayanti |
nāsmai tṛṇaṁ nodakam ā bharanty uttaro dhuro vahati pradediśat || 10 ||
parivṛkteva patividyam ānaṭ pīpyānā kūcakreṇeva siñcan |
eṣaiṣyā cid rathyā jayema sumaṅgalaṁ sinavad astu sātam || 11 ||
tvaṁ viśvasya jagataś cakṣur indrāsi cakṣuṣaḥ |
vṛṣā yad ājiṁ vṛṣaṇā siṣāsasi codayan vadhriṇā yujā || 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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