Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.153 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.
Rocking him gently, the busy dames tend unto the new-born Indra, taking him as their portion from the plenty of heroes.
Thou, O Indra, wert born of strength, of force, of might— thou bull art verily a bull indeed.
Thou, O Indra, didst shatter Vr̥tra;
thou didst stretch wide the space between; with thy strength thou didst uphold the heavens.
Thou bearest in thine arms the song of shared delight, even as with thy might thou whettest thy mace.
Thou, Indra, rulest over all things made by thine own strength; thou camest to being throughout all the worlds.
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.153
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.
īṅkhayantīr apasyuva indraṁ jātam upāsate |
bhejānāsaḥ suvīryam || 1 ||
tvam indra balād adhi sahaso jāta ojasaḥ |
tvaṁ vṛṣan vṛṣed asi || 2 ||
tvam indrāsi vṛtrahā vy a1ntarikṣam atiraḥ |
ud dyām astabhnā ojasā || 3 ||
tvam indra sajoṣasam arkam bibharṣi bāhvoḥ |
vajraṁ śiśāna ojasā || 4 ||
tvam indrābhibhūr asi viśvā jātāny ojasā |
sa viśvā bhuva ābhavaḥ || 5 ||
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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