Hymn to Agni
Rigveda X.12 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.
Heaven and Earth, who speak what is true, are the first to harken in accord with truth, when the god, setting mortals to their rite, taketh his seat as Hotar, facing them, coming into the fullness of his own divine life.
As a god who compasseth all the gods in truth, first be thou the bearer of our gift—thou who markest all, thy smoke a sign, thy brightness foaming in flame.
Thou art the joy-bringer, the ever-steady Hotar, whose tongue maketh better the offering.
The draught of the gods, drawn from the deathless cow, is their rightful gain. “From her are born those who uphold the two broad worlds”—
such is thy sacrificial word, which all gods follow.
When the dappled cow doth yield her milk, it is the ghee of Heaven, the holy water.
I sing thy deed, O pair upheld by ghee, to make thee strong.
Give ear, O Heaven and Earth, ye twin world-halves.
When the days and the daylights pass toward the other world, then let our elder kin refine us sweetly with honey.
Why hath the king Varuṇa laid hold on us?
What law of his have we unknowingly broken?
Who can say with full knowing?
Even Mitra, though his mood turn awry, is like a beacon unto the gods,
or the prize of the victor in the chariot race.
Wondrous and strange is the name of the undying one, whereby the woman shall bear the marks of the man, though her shape be unlike his.
Whoso considereth the name of Yama, worthy of deep thought— guard him well, O high Agni, with ceaseless care.
At that holy sharing where the gods take delight and uphold the two worlds at the seat of Vivasvant, there they set light in the sun,
and gave the dark hours to the moon.
Sun and moon go round the blaze that is Agni, never tiring.
And the secret thought whereon the gods agree—we know it not.
May Mitra, Aditi, and Savitar speak kindly for us before Varuṇa:
let him find no fault in us.
Hear us, Agni, from thy seat, from thy dwelling-place.
Yoke the swift car of the undying one.
Bring unto us the two world-halves, whose sons are the gods.
Be not the missing one among the host divine— be with us here!
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.12
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.
dyāvā ha kṣāmā prathame ṛtenābhiśrāve bhavataḥ satyavācā |
devo yan martān yajathāya kṛṇvan sīdad dhotā pratyaṅ svam asuṁ yan || 1 ||
devo devān paribhūr ṛtena vahā no havyam prathamaś cikitvān |
dhūmaketuḥ samidhā bhāṛjīko mandro hotā nityo vācā yajīyān || 2 ||
svāvṛg devasyāmṛtaṁ yadī gor ato jātāso dhārayanta urvī |
viśve devā anu tat te yajur gur duhe yad enī divyaṁ ghṛtaṁ vāḥ || 3 ||
arcāmi vāṁ vardhāyāpo ghṛtasnū dyāvābhūmī śṛṇutaṁ rodasī me |
ahā yad dyāvo 'sunītim ayan madhvā no atra pitarā śiśītām || 4 ||
kiṁ svin no rājā jagṛhe kad asyāti vrataṁ cakṛmā ko vi veda |
mitraś cid dhi ṣmā juhurāṇo devāñ chloko na yātām api vājo asti || 5 ||
durmantv atrāmṛtasya nāma salakṣmā yad viṣurūpā bhavāti |
yamasya yo manavate sumantv agne tam ṛṣva pāhy aprayucchan || 6 ||
yasmin devā vidathe mādayante vivasvataḥ sadane dhārayante |
sūrye jyotir adadhur māsy a1ktūn pari dyotaniṁ carato ajasrā || 7 ||
yasmin devā manmani saṁcaranty apīcye3 na vayam asya vidma |
mitro no atrāditir anāgān savitā devo varuṇāya vocat || 8 ||
śrudhī no agne sadane sadhasthe yukṣvā ratham amṛtasya dravitnum |
ā no vaha rodasī devaputre mākir devānām apa bhūr iha syāḥ || 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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