Hymn to Indra
Rigveda X.155 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.
Thou one-eyed, misshapen she-fiend, hie thee unto the hills—thou Sadānvā!
With the war-host of Śirimbiṭha at our side, we cast thee forth and drive thee hence.
She is cast out from this stead and from that, having laid her hands upon every unborn babe.
Fall upon her, O Brahmaṇaspati of the sharp horn— gore her and lay her low.
Lo, that driftwood yonder, borne to the far shore of the river, rudderless, without hand to guide— lay hold of that, thou with thy foul maw, and be gone unto the far-off waste.
When ye hags with rusted coffers bend and beat upon your breasts, then were Indra’s foes undone, and all their spendings burst like bubbles into naught.
These men have led the kine in circle; they have borne the flame in rite.
Their name is sung among the gods—
who now dareth lift hand against them?
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.155
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.
arāyi kāṇe vikaṭe giriṁ gaccha sadānve |
śirimbiṭhasya satvabhis tebhiṣ ṭvā cātayāmasi || 1 ||
catto itaś cattāmutaḥ sarvā bhrūṇāny āruṣī |
arāyyam brahmaṇas pate tīkṣṇaśṛṇgodṛṣann ihi || 2 ||
ado yad dāru plavate sindhoḥ pāre apūruṣam |
tad ā rabhasva durhaṇo tena gaccha parastaram || 3 ||
yad dha prācīr ajagantoro maṇḍūradhāṇikīḥ |
hatā indrasya śatravaḥ sarve budbudayāśavaḥ || 4 ||
parīme gām aneṣata pary agnim ahṛṣata |
deveṣv akrata śravaḥ ka imām̐ ā dadharṣati || 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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