Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.105 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.
When, O noble one, for thee who yearnest for song, shall thy beard fall upon the waters, unto the soma long pressed for thee, whose friendship is sought, thy breath carried by the wandering wind?
Thou who drivest thy twin pale bays—well reined, yet ruled each by its own will— the steeds of slender form, with manes falling like twin cords, thou keeper of the hearth—
Indra, apart from these two, standeth still as a weary man, struck low by fear.
But when he, the mighty, hath yoked them in grace, Then with them shall Indra win renown—though he be but their rider, their servant still— with the twin thunderers, each under its own command,
Indra shall be hailed a champion.
He that rideth the maned pair, as on Heaven and Earth broad-spread, to seek gain, the fair-lipped wight doth win the draught with lips alone.
He of great strength hath lifted the song with the lofty; the hero hath wrought it with swelling might, as a craftsman bringeth shape to thought, like Mātariśvan of old.
He who forged his mace for easy smiting of the Dasyu— he, golden-hued, golden through and through, whose jaw is whole, is like the unfailing breath of the air above.
Break thou the crooked for our sake.
May our song bring down the songless foe.
Our offering is not without holy word, even as thou takest thy joy therein.
When the threefold one standeth upright for thee at the yoke of sacrifice, set aright, then, with these twain, board thou the boat of glory, that beareth its praise within itself.
Thy dappled pourer is bright with splendor, thy spotless ladle likewise— those by which thou liftest draughts into thine own vessel.
Though a hundred should rise against thee, O lordly one, Sumitra hath praised thee in this wise,
Durmitra hath sung thee thus— for thou didst help Kutsa’s son when the Dasyus were broken, for thou didst uphold the child of Kutsa in their fall.
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.105
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.
kadā vaso stotraṁ haryata āva śmaśā rudhad vāḥ |
dīrghaṁ sutaṁ vātāpyāya || 1 ||
harī yasya suyujā vivratā ver arvantānu śepā |
ubhā rajī na keśinā patir dan || 2 ||
apa yor indraḥ pāpaja ā marto na śaśramāṇo bibhīvān |
śubhe yad yuyuje taviṣīvān || 3 ||
sacāyor indraś carkṛṣa ām̐ upānasaḥ saparyan |
nadayor vivratayoḥ śūra indraḥ || 4 ||
adhi yas tasthau keśavantā vyacasvantā na puṣṭyai |
vanoti śiprābhyāṁ śipriṇīvān || 5 ||
prāstaud ṛṣvaujā ṛṣvebhis tatakṣa śūraḥ śavasā |
ṛbhur na kratubhir mātariśvā || 6 ||
vajraṁ yaś cakre suhanāya dasyave hirīmaśo hirīmān |
arutahanur adbhutaṁ na rajaḥ || 7 ||
ava no vṛjinā śiśīhy ṛcā vanemānṛcaḥ |
nābrahmā yajña ṛdhag joṣati tve || 8 ||
ūrdhvā yat te tretinī bhūd yajñasya dhūrṣu sadman |
sajūr nāvaṁ svayaśasaṁ sacāyoḥ || 9 ||
śriye te pṛśnir upasecanī bhūc chriye darvir arepāḥ |
yayā sve pātre siñcasa ut || 10 ||
śataṁ vā yad asurya prati tvā sumitra itthāstaud durmitra itthāstaut |
āvo yad dasyuhatye kutsaputram prāvo yad dasyuhatye kutsavatsam || 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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